Page 468 - Biosystems Engineering

440 Cha pte r F i f tee n

15.5.2 Red Color of Apples
Apples sprayed with SADH were much better colored than unsprayed
ones. In trees with oval crowns (the orchard in Prusy) SADH increased
the number of apples with blush covering more than 50 percent of the
apple surface by 19.0 and 28.1 percent, respectively, in years 1983 and
1984. Apple thinning on these trees improved the coloration of the
fruit. The number of fruits with blush covering more than 50 percent
of apple surface have increased by 45.6 percent and 51.3 percent as
compared to fruits collected from trees unthinned and untreated by
SADH. Thinning alone has also increased fruit coloration but only by
22.0 and 31.3 percent, respectively. The influence of thinning on fruit
coloration induced by SADH was less evident on trees with flattened
crowns (the orchard in Sinoleka). Spraying these trees with CaCl
2
sometimes increased the blush surface (differences not statistically
significant).

15.5.3 Ground Color of Skin
Apples sprayed with SADH generally had a greener ground color of
the skin than apples not treated with SADH. Thinning itself has
sometimes induced a yellowish skin ground color in apples both
treated and untreated with SADH. Of all the treatments, the yellow-
est ground color of the skin was found in apples from trees thinned
and sprayed with calcium chloride.

15.5.4 Apple Firmness
In general, SADH had no influence on the firmness of apples during
harvest, and sometimes firmness was higher. Treatment with calcium
chloride or thinning applied separately, in general, had no influence
on the firmness of apples sprayed or unsprayed with SADH. In one
of the experiments, the softest apples appeared to be those harvested
from trees thinned and sprayed with SADH and calcium chloride.
During storage, the firmest apples appeared to be those treated
with SADH alone, and often the apples had been dipped in calcium
chloride. The lowest readings for firmness were obtained in these
apples than for apples harvested from trees untreated by SADH or
calcium chloride.

15.5.5 Physiological Disorders of Apples during Storage
From the experiments presented here, it is evident that only once did
apples treated with SADH suffer more from core flush than did
apples that did not undergo such treatment (Table 15.7). In experi-
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ments reported earlier, such phenomena occurred more often. In
such cases, application of calcium chloride reduced the amount of
affected fruits. The smallest number of fruits with symptoms of the
disease was found in apples that had been treated with both SADH