The objective this study was to evaluate the relationship between quantitative and qualitative characteristics of peach grown in subtropical regions. Fully ripe fruits obtained from five F2 populations grown in a subtropical climate were evaluated for: skin color (coordinates b* and h°), average fruit diameter, fruit length, pulp instrumental firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, percentage of red skin, flesh color , flesh adherence to pit, pulp consistency and harvest time. These data were used to obtain partial correlation coefficients of all variables. There was variation between the values obtained for each characteristic. There are partial correlations significant at 1% probability of medium and weak intensities between the studied characteristics. The highest correlations were found between length and diameter of fruits (0.690 **) and between the descriptors b* and h° obtained by colorimeter (0.516 **). Later fruits are generally of greater firmness, lower levels of vitamin C and less yellow pigmentation in the epidermis. Yellow-fleshed peaches are firmer and have higher juice acidity.
Prunus persica (L.) Batsch; fruit quality; partial correlation
