Some of these early cultivars include Foothill Early, Granada, and Early Wonderful. These cultivars reach maturity long before fall rains, which can be devastating to pomegranate crop yields due to fruit splitting . However, the early cultivars listed have been described as inferior compared to the fruit and juice quality of Wonderful, specifically having lower internal color quality . However, it is important to note that different cultures prefer differing flavor profiles for pomegranates. Pomegranate is utilized for many products, ranging from fresh fruit to various types of value-added products. Value added products can be from the seeds, which contain fleshy, juice-containing arils, which are the outer integument of the seed, or from the fruit peel. Maestre et al. reported that uses for pomegranate fruit include juice, jams, preserves, jellies, refrigerated arils, frozen arils, liquors, syrups and soft drinks. These various uses for pomegranate can be dependent on the cultivar that is being utilized. For example, jellies produced with ‘Borde’ experience fewer losses than ‘Mollar’ pomegranate when stored at higher temperatures. Yoshimura et al. reported that pomegranate is a successful skin whitening agent in mammals, which could be utilized as a plant-source material in the cosmetic or pharmaceutical industries. Per Stover and Mercure , as a fresh fruit, consumer demand for pomegranate may increase with the introduction of cultivars with soft-seeded arils and uniquely colored and sweeter arils. Day and Wilkins also believe that both commercial growers and consumers may express interest in cultivars other than Wonderful if they were to have “unusual” or “unique” traits. As a whole fresh market fruit, pomegranates should be medium to large at harvest and their exterior color should be pink or red , but it should be noted that market preferences have changed in the past, as with Malus and Prunus crop species. In the United States,big plastic pots the most important product produced from pomegranates is juice . The beverage industry has a market value of $187.4 billion, with total fruit juice sales equal to $50 billion .

Previous market research found that pomegranate juice was ranked first in the super premium juice category in grocery store sales and that PomWonderfulTM juice was the leader in pomegranate juice sales, with $36.5 million in sales during the time of the study . Market research also suggested that for juice blends, pomegranate-blueberry blends had the best sales. In addition to consumer acceptance of the fruit, to be a successful commercial cultivar, a cultivar must be easily propagated in the nursery and readily established in a commercial orchard; otherwise, it would be difficult to implement commercial production for that genotype. Compared to all other methods of propagation, utilizing dormant hardwood cuttings is the most inexpensive and convenient method to propagate pomegranate. As a result, it has become the standard for the industry for the production of clonal bare root or container-propagated trees . Perhaps the most important reason pomegranate trees are propagated via stem cuttings is that the seeds of pomegranate are the product of sexual reproduction and if propagated by seed, the progeny are not true to type . As a result, seeds are not utilized in the nursery industry for production of commercial pomegranate trees. Historically, pomegranate was propagated commercially by dormant hardwood cuttings in California long before the first scientific reports on pomegranate were published by the University of California . Although many studies have been conducted on propagation of pomegranate via hardwood cuttings , none of these studies is known to have included any of the cultivars from the USDA-ARS NCGR. In addition, there are no data in the literature regarding dormant cutting propagation of the most important commercial cultivar in the United States, Wonderful. Another omission from the literature is the lack of information on vegetative growth parameters of the cultivars in the collection. These parameters may elucidate important horticultural traits, such as plant vigor, branching habit, and the proportion of buds that produce vegetative shoots, including the proportion of buds below the soil-line that produce both vegetative shoots and roots. Success rate and vegetative growth parameters are important characteristics for professionals in the nursery industry and commercial growers.

Research on pomegranate propagation typically utilizes hardwood cuttings with stem lengths of 20 cm or more . Whereas it may be optimal to use 20 cm of stem length for hardwood cuttings, the most limiting factor to crop expansion of pomegranate in California is the lack of nursery stock . Alikhani et al. reported that cuttings with three buds or more givethe best results for clonal hardwood propagation; Heidari et al. found evidence that single node cuttings worked better than those having two or four buds. This finding was ascribed to the endogenous hormonal balance in the propagule. Reports on the use of the auxin indole-butyric acid to increase rooting are contradictory. Polat and Caliskan reported that 1 g×L -1 of IBA was sufficient to root pomegranate cuttings, but stated that this concentration was not optimal. Saroj et al. reported that 2.5 g×L -1 IBA was an optimum rate of auxin for high rooting success in pomegranate. However, much higher doses of IBA have been demonstrated to increase pomegranate propagation success, with a treatment of 12 g×L -1 resulting in a lower rooting success rate . To be considered for commercial pomegranate production, a pomegranate cultivar would need to produce high yields and be as precocious as Wonderful. Wonderful typically starts producing an economic crop in year three after planting , so any variety that produces fruit in year three or earlier could possibly be a competitive cultivar relative to the industry standard. The cultivar would also need and acceptable establishment rate, i.e. to quickly reach a tree size that partially fills the 4 m x 5.8 m spacing typical of pomegranate groves within the same time or earlier than Wonderful, excluding cultivars with dwarf and semi-dwarf traits that could be farmed in high density plantings. Another trait of benefit to a commercial cultivar is having an earlier harvest date than Wonderful, which is typically harvested for the fresh market in late September, October, or early November, depending on climate and growing conditions. For juice production, ‘Wonderful’ trees are stripped at the end of the commercial fresh fruit production season, which can be as late as November. The cultivar must also maintain good fruit quality over this period to be competitive with Wonderful. Having an earlier harvest date is ideal because it will increase the chances of avoiding fall rains, which are known to cause devastating losses due to fruit splitting.

Orchard establishment rates for pomegranate cultivars under drip irrigation are unknown. Day et al. found that ‘Wonderful’ trees will produce a commercial crop by the third year in the field under furrow irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley in Central California, but plant establishment data were not collected. No data are available for tree height, canopy width within a row or across the row or trunk diameter, the traits which were measured by Webster et al. to determine establishment rates in apple cultivars. These traits are important in all tree crops. Comparisons of tree establishment rates across different climates are also not found in the literature. For a commercial fruit tree grove to be sustainable and profitable, the trees need to be precocious, i.e., to produce as many flowers and fruit of marketable quality, as early as possible . Pomegranate is monecious and produces two flower types, functionally “male” and functionally “female.” Male flowers only produce pollen and have an underdeveloped gynoecium, whereas the female flowers are perfect and are able to produce fruit . To ensure that precocity is not a false measure of the ability of a tree to set fruit, the number of male and female flowers during peak bloom must be counted on each tree . Pomegranate is a crop that can survive in relatively harsh conditions and it has been classified as a drought- and heat-tolerant crop . Glozer and Ferguson reported that pomegranate trees tolerate temperatures as low as -11° C. The geographical suitability of cultivars for commercial production at a given site can also be assessed by quantifying physiological parameters influencing tree health, growth and productivity. These parameters include photo inhibition, stomatal conductance, transpiration and photosynthetic rate. To determine satisfactory geographic suitability and success,growing berries in containers a cultivar would have to perform physiologically at an equal or greater level than Wonderful. Hepaksoy et al. found evidence that leaf transpiration and water-use efficiency were correlated with fruit splitting in pomegranate. Additionally, being able to forecast establishment rates and precocity of the cultivars is crucial to assess whether a cultivar is a candidate as a commercial cultivar and it allows growers to anticipate establishment of their trees. In addition, information on tree size and growth habit is important to evaluate a cultivar’s suitability for trellising or high density planting.

The pomegranate fruit is often classified as a berry , or it is considered berry-like , having a “leathery” exocarp that ranges in color from light yellow to black , although in the market, pomegranate fruit are typically a bright red color. Peel texture can range from soft to tough. Mature fruit are spherical with a calyx at the blossom end , which closely resembles a crown. After fertilization, sepal color typically changes from orangered to green, but can vary among cultivars. As the fruitlet develops, the fruit’s color typically changes from green to the color of that genotype at maturity . Pomegranate seeds are arranged in locules that are separated by white to yellowish septa, inedible mesocarp tissue , which are not evenly distributed in the fruit . The septa are inedible because they are comprised of insoluble fiber . Locules at the stem end are generally more numerous than those at the calyx end . The epidermis of each seed is fleshy and is botanically referred to as a sarcotesta or aril. The flavor and color of the sarcotesta is cultivar-dependent, ranging from sour to sweet and white to deep purple, respectively. The hardness of the seeds, amount of juice contained in the arils, and aril size are also cultivar dependent . A large pomegranate fruit can contain up to 1200 to 1300 seeds . Pomegranate is a non-climacteric fruit, meaning that it matures and does not ripen . Differences in seed number may affect a cultivar’s ability to be successful in the prepackaged aril market, which has developed considerably over the last five years. Studies have demonstrated a large variation in mature fruit size within commercial orchards of ‘Wonderful,’ which poses a problem for fresh market growers and packers. Wetzstein et al. reported a greater than five-fold range in mature fruit volume and mass in commercial ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate groves. At maturity, pomegranate fruit are typically 3.5 to 6.5 cm in diameter with a mass of 30 g to several hundred grams , although commercially-valuable pomegranates typically weigh more than 400 g and the largest-sized ‘Wonderful’ fruit from mature trees can have a diameter of over 100 mm . Factors that influence fruit size and yield include aril number , cultivar , cultural practices , and tree age . Cultivars that show greater uniformity in fruit size would be beneficial to the industry due to the fresh market sizing problems reported for Wonderful by Wetzstein et al. . Typical commercial harvest windows for ‘Wonderful’ range from late September to early November, but fruit in the San Joaquin Valley of California, USA, where the most Punica cultivation occurs, are typically ready to harvest starting in late October. Usually by November, the effects of weather and pests will begin to take a toll on mature fruit. Harvest date can determine whether a cultivar is a candidate as a commercial cultivar. Cultivars with an earlier fruit maturity date have a better chance of competing with Wonderful in the market. Later cultivars run the risk of fall rains, which have been associated with greater numbers of split fruit and a loss in fresh market sales . The beverage and wine industries utilize fruit juices that have sufficient quantities of organic acids, carbohydrates , and phenolic compounds. For commercial pomegranate fruit, concentrations of total soluble solids range from 12% to 16% at maturity, but ‘Wonderful’ should have at least 15% TSS at harvest . Hasnaoui et al. reported that citric acid is the determinant of tart flavor in pomegranate juice, and this is said to be independent of the sugar concentration.