In a two-year study, the effects of three training systems on apple fruit and leaf parameters: 9 fruit yield, 8 physicochemical and 4 antioxidant capacity related parameters and the relationships among 11 yield quality parameters, of the apple cultivar 'Royal Gala' were studied. In addition, light penetration into the tree canopy was determined. The investigated three training systems were Oblique Palmette (1250 trees ha-1), Bibaum (1923 trees ha-1) and Slender Spindle (1666 trees ha-1). Light penetration into the tree canopy, fruit number per tree, fruit weight, fruit yield, fruit skin colour, fruit firmness, starch index of fruit, N-and K-contents of leaves as well as ascorbic acid content, total anthocyanins and total antioxidant capacity of fruit indicated significant differences (P < 0.05) amongst the training systems, but the differences were not significant between experimental years. The Bibaum gave the highest values for light penetration into the tree canopy, fruit number per tree, fruit yield, fruit skin colour, starch index of fruit, N-and K-contents of leaves and total anthocyanins, which were significantly different from those of the Oblique Palmette or the Slender Spindle. The Slender Spindle gave the highest values for fruit weight, fruit firmness and total antioxidant capacity, which were significantly different from those of the Bibaum. Fruit of the Oblique Palmette trained trees showed the highest ascorbic acid content, which was significantly different from that of the Slender Spindle but not from the Bibaum. From the 55 correlation pairs of each training system, 27, 17 and 15 were significant at P < 0.05 in the Oblique Palmette, the Bibaum and the Slender Spindle, respectively. Only five correlation pairs were significant in all the three training systems. This study clearly demonstrated that most of the parameters were largely affected by the training systems, which may influence apple growing practices and fruit quality in a given orchard training system.