ISHS Acta Horticulturae 448: III International Symposium on Mineral Nutrition of Deciduous Fruit Trees
PREDICTING STORAGE ABILITY OF ‘CORTLAND’ APPLES |
| Author: | K. Tomala |
| Keywords: | Apple, bitter pit, predicting, potassium, kilavatio, infiltration |
| Abstract:
The frequency of bitter pit was usually correlated with K and Ca content and with K:Ca ratio, irrespective of the organ analysed. This indicates that for prognosis of apple storage ability, fruitlet or leaf analysis for mineral nutrients may be as effective as fruit analysis. The mineral status of apples with calcium or potassium or K:Ca ratio can be concluded from fruit infiltration with magnesium chloride. Leaf K concentration accounted for 23 % of the variation in bitter pit after storage. At a leaf K content as low as 1.0 % d.m., not more than 2 % of the apples should exhibit bitter pit. When the leaf K reaches 2.2 %, from 6 to 14 % of apples would show bitter pit. The fruit K:Ca ratio was not better an indicator of bitter pit than the leaf K content. The K:Ca ratio above 22:1 is likely to be associated with commercial losses due to bitter pit. | |
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