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A 2-year study was conducted in a ‘Golden Delicious’ (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) orchard with a high incidence of physiological fruit russeting to examine the effect of gibberellin A4+7 (GA4+7) on apple epidermal cell size. Beginning at petal fall, four sequential applications of GA4+7 (0, 15, or 30 mg·L−1) were applied to whole trees every 7–10 days with an orchard air-blast sprayer at a volume of ≈1000 L·ha−1. Fruit epidermal tissue samples were taken approximately monthly beginning 1 week after the fourth application. Tissue was treated in the laboratory with an enzyme mixture to remove cellular debris in preparation for examination using either light or scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In 2007, because russeting was insignificant, treatment differences could not be established. Moreover, transillumination microscopy did not permit accurate measurement of ‘Golden Delicious’ fruit epidermal planar cell area beyond midseason because the isolated cuticle became thick and multilayered. In 2008, however, respective treatments of 15 and 30 mg·L−1 reduced calyx end russeting by 40% and 83% and increased epidermal planar cell density by 14% and 27% as measured using SEM.
Abstract
The use of chemicals to control vegetative growth of fruit trees at the Tree Fruit Research Laboratory in Wenatchee, Wash, began 25 years ago. Vegetative growth of apple seedlings in greenhouse trials was first controlled with foliar applications of butanedioic acid mono (2,2-dimethylhydrazide) (daminozide) (B-9, Alar). Field trials then were conducted on both apple and young cherry trees (3, 4). Daminozide also has been used to improve annual return blooming and fruit set, promote red skin color development, delay maturity, and improve storability of apple cultivars. Often, the high rates needed to control vegetative growth have reduced fruit size and fruit length, resulting in flat fruit shape (4, 13, 28). The latter phenomenon is important, for ‘Delicious’ apple for which “typiness” is a strong marketing characteristic and therefore an economic benefit. This paper presents results of continuing research on the control of excessive vegetative growth of deciduous fruit trees.
Warm daytime and cool nighttime temperatures during fruit maturation are conducive to anthocyanin synthesis and starch degradation in many apple cultivars. In parts of the world, high temperatures during fruit maturation result in sunburn of varying degrees of severity ranging from slight bleaching of the pigments in the epidermal layer to cracked and desiccated skin. This experiment assessed the effects of sunburn on fruit quality and mineral nutrition at harvest. In September 1990, about 2000 `Granny Smith' or `Delicious' apples were examined for sunburn and sorted into the following categories: none, light, bleached, bronzed, buckskin, and cracked. Twenty fruit were collected for each category. Each fruit was subdivided into exposed and shaded halves. Each half of each fruit was evaluated for firmness, soluble solids, and acidity. Tissue samples were analyzed for sugars, total nitrogen, and mineral content. Data suggest that excessive heat due to solar radiation creates a gradient of sugars and minerals within the fruit resulting in increased disorders in certain areas of the fruit.
Present dietary recommendations for fruits and vegetables should be based on the bioavailability of essential nutrients at the time of optimum harvest. Few people, however, are fortunate enough to have available freshly harvested produce all year. With the development of improved postharvest technology, shelf life has increased dramatically in many parts of the world. How does the nutritional quality of fruits and vegetables change with increasing storage time, changes in storage atmosphere, different postharvest processes? Do these changes have an impact on dietary recommendations? Apples are capable of being stored for up to 12 months with properly managed temperature and storage atmosphere. Because information regarding this subject is lacking for apple (and many other fruits and vegetables), perhaps a model can be developed based on work with other commodities to help us understand the nutritional changes associated with different postharvest treatments.
Color in apple skin is a composite of varying concentrations of chlorophyll, carotenoids, and anthocyanins/flavanols. Anthocyanin biosynthesis is influenced by a number of factors including rootstock, nitrogen status, wounding, certain plant growth regulators, light, and temperature. This study investigated changes in the optimum temperature for anthocyanin accumulation of `Braeburn', `Delicious', `Fuji', and `Gala' apple tissue disks. Preclimacteric (core ethylene < 1.0 ul·liter-1) apples with little color development were harvested in September, 1992 and immediately brought to the laboratory. Six 15mm disks about 3mm thick were removed from the shaded side of each fruit and transferred to moistened filter paper on temperature-controlled blocks preset at temperatures ranging from 15C to 40C at intervals of 5C and covered with plastic (CO2 permeable) film. The disks were illuminated for up to 48 hours with a high pressure sodium lamp at a distance of about 1m. Following the illumination period individual peel disks were extracted with acidic methanol for anthocyanins. The temperature optimum for maximum anthocyanin biosynthesis for each cultivar will be reported.
With the development of improved postharvest technology, the shelf life of fruit and vegetables has increased dramatically in many parts of the world. Presently, dietary recommendations for these commodities are based on the bioavailability of essential nutrients at the time of optimum harvest. Few people, however, are fortunate enough to have available freshly harvested produce all year and, therefore, must consume fruit and vegetables that have been stored under the best conditions available. The question, then, is whether nutritional quality changes with storage method and length. Little is known concerning the effects of storage on nutrient content or bioavailability. Furthermore, if levels of these antioxidants do indeed change, perhaps dietary recommendations should reflect this as well. The data in this study indicate that there are significant changes in the levels of natural antioxidants in two apple cultivars at harvest and after an extended period in cold storage.
Within red cultivars, highly colored apples are often preferred. In addition to being esthetically more appealing. better color often indicates riper, better tasting fruit. Anthocyanin synthesis in apples is influenced by many external factors including light, temperature, nutrition, pruning, thinning, growth regulators, and bagging. Bagging is the practice of enclosing young fruitlets in several layers of paper to promote color development after the bag is removed in the fall before harvest. In experiments related to the temperature optimum of color development in various cultivars, bagging was used to produce fruit void of anthocyanins. Double layer paper bags (black-lined outer bag, red inner bag) were placed on `Akafu-1 Fuji', `Oregon-Spur Delicious', and the early coloring `Scarlet Spur Delicious' on June 21, 1993. Bags were not removed until fruit was taken to the lab on September 22 for both `Delicious' and `Fuji'. Whereas bagged `Fuji' apples were without red pigment, bagged `Delicious' sports showed considerable red pigment development, completely covering the apple in the case of the blush-type `Scarlet Spur' and showing streaks without pigment in the snipe-type `Oregon-Spur'.
Experiments were conducted over several years to distinguish symptoms of sodium hypochlorite- or calcium hypochlorite-induced peel injury from other superficial maladies on ‘Gala’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ apples (Malus domestica), and to evaluate factors implicated in injury incidence and severity. ‘Royal Gala’ apples treated by dipping in freshly prepared aqueous sodium hypochlorite for 10 min showed moderate peel injury at the lowest treatment concentration of 150 mg·L−1 when treated immediately after harvest, whereas no injury was observed on fruit treated at even the highest concentration of 2400 mg·L−1 when fruit were kept at −1 °C for 3 months before treatment. At lower rates, rinsing fruit after treatment reduced injury on fruit dipped for 2 min, whereas after a 10-minute treatment, rinsing had no effect. Warm fruit (field heat) generally had a higher incidence of peel injury compared with fruit placed at −1 °C for 24 h before treatment. When ‘Golden Delicious’ apples were treated by dipping for 2 min in freshly prepared aqueous solutions of sodium hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite at an equimolar hypochlorite ion concentration of 0.008 M (600 mg·L−1 sodium hypochlorite), treatment temperature had a greater influence on incidence of peel injury with sodium hypochlorite than with calcium hypochlorite. Analysis of nonpolar solvent-extractable epicuticular waxes indicated differences due to treatment among several extracted compounds. Microscopic examination of injured peel tissue indicated altered appearance of wax platelets.