Severe sapburn occurs in mango fruit of the cultivar Kensington when sap contacts the fruit, resulting in browning and then blackening of the skin. Both the sap and skin of mango fruit contained considerable polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity. The sap enzyme was not activated by SDS, was inhibited by hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and was active with both para- and ortho-diphenol substrates. The skin enzyme was activated by SDS, was inhibited by salicylhydroxamic acid and polyvinylpyrrolidone, and was active only with ortho-diphenol substrates. These properties suggest that the sap PPO is a laccase-type enzyme (EC 1.10.3.2) whereas the skin contains the more common catechol oxidase-type PPO (EC 1.10.3.1). The skin enzyme had a temperature optimum at 30�C but the sap enzyme had maximum PPO activity at 75�C. Both enzymes were relatively thermostable, requiring more than 15 min at 80�C for 50% loss of activity. It is concluded that browning of mango skin induced by the sap is predominantly catalysed by PPO in the skin and that this is unlikely to be prevented by heat treatment of the fruit.

Damage caused to the skin of mango fruit by contact with sap exuded from the cut or broken pedicel reduces consumer acceptance and storage life of the fruit. Mangoes of the Kensington cultivar are particularly susceptible to sapburn injury. On centrifugation, the fruit sap separated into two phases. Skin damage was caused predominantly by the upper non-aqueous phase. A major component of this phase was terpinolene which gave symptoms indistinguishable from sapburn injury when applied to the fruit surface. The same type of damage could be induced by the application of synthetic terpinolene when applied undiluted, diluted in hexane or as an aqueous emulsion. Non-volatile sap components separated by distillation were not damaging to mango skin. Sap exuded from the mango leaf petioles also contained terpinolene, but its concentration was less than 1% of the concentration in pedicel sap and this sap was not damaging to the fruit skin.The Florida cultivar Irwin is less susceptible to sapburn injury and the predominant terpene in its sap was identified as car-3-ene. When applied to Kensington skin, car-3-ene caused significantly less damage than terpinolene. We conclude that the primary cause of mango sapburn is entry of volatile components of the sap such as terpinolene through the lenticels, resulting in tissue damage and subsequent enzymic browning.

Summary. Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is an emerging horticultural crop in tropical northern Australia. Supplementary watering is required during the dry season to achieve high yields but irrigation guidelines are not well defined. As an introduction to large-scale field experiments which will aim to define the irrigation requirements for cashew, this experiment was conducted on small, container-grown cashew trees to examine their response to drying soil and to evaluate a range of techniques for measuring tree water use and photosynthesis with possible application in the proposed field experiments. Measurements of sap flow, leaf chlorophyll fluorescence and leaf gas exchange were made on all trees throughout the experimental period. The water use of trees in drying soil was measured using Granier’s sap flow system. Sap flux density (L/dm2 sapwood area . h) of drying trees declined progressively over a 4-day period to a minimum level that was only 10% of the sap flow in the well watered trees. Measurements of leaf gas exchange showed similarly large reductions in photosynthesis and transpiration which were associated with a low (0.05 mol/m2 . s) stomatal conductance in the drying trees. After rewatering, sap flow and leaf gas exchange recovered to the high levels of the well watered trees over 3–4 days. Similar behaviour was observed during the second drying period. Measurements of the ratio of variable to maximum fluorescence, Fv : Fm, an indicator of photoinhibition, were made on dark-adapted leaves before dawn and during the day. Fv : Fm was in the range 0.65–0.80 with no large or sustained differences between drying and well watered trees. When stomatal conductance and net photosynthetic rate progressively declined during the period following irrigation, the quantum yield of photochemical energy conversion in photosystem II, ΦPSII, remained almost constant. It is possible that by providing a pathway for electron flow as an alternative to CO2 assimilation during this period, photorespiration played an important role in avoiding photoinhibition.

Gas exchange, leaf water status, soil water use and nut yield of cashew trees were monitored during the reproductive phase in 2 consecutive years (1988 and 1989). Treatment 1 comprised continuous irrigation from the end of the wet season in April until harvest in October; T2, irrigation between flowering (mid June) and harvest; and T3, no irrigation. Irrigation was applied by under-tree sprinkler at 43 mm/week in 1988 and 64 mm/week in 1989. Measurement of leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll content and nut production showed that trees in T2 were as productive as those in T1 (>1.3 kg kernel/tree). In T3, water deficit caused a 4-fold reduction in leaf photosynthesis and reduced leaf chlorophyll content from about 600 to 400 mg/m2 during fruit development. There was no effect on the number of hermaphrodite flowers produced (both ranging from 0 to 15 hermaphrodite flowers/panicle) but the water deficit was associated with a lower kernel yield (1.16 kg kernel/tree). Commercial yields (kg kernel/tree) in irrigated treatments were 20% greater than in the non-irrigated treatment and the kernels from irrigated trees were of a higher grade (kernel recovery >32% in T1 and T2 compared with 27.4% in T3). These results suggest that irrigation of established cashew plantations in the tropical regions of northern Australia can be restricted to the period between flowering and harvest without reducing yield.

Cashew is an emerging crop in the seasonally 'wet-dry' tropical regions of northern Australia. In North Queensland flowering and fruiting of cashew coincides with the dry season (May-November). During this period growers sprinkler irrigate at 500 L/tree.week. A 3-year (1996-98) experiment compared this strategy with alternatives, including no irrigation or drip irrigation in which 115 or 230 L/tree.week was applied by drippers placed near the tree trunk and near the canopy drip line throughout the dry season. Measurements of soil water to 1.3 m, leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, tree sap flow and yield were made. Data collected in the first 2 years showed that the water requirement of the trees increased progressively as the crop load and evaporative demand increased during the dry season. During the final year of the study, additional sprinkler and drip treatments, in which water applications were progressively increased during the dry season, were introduced.The productivity of cashew in this experiment was strongly influenced by irrigation treatments, ranging (over all years) from 42 to 160 g nut/m 2 canopy surface area. Depletion of plant-available water in the root zone was associated with a reduction in photosynthesis mediated by partial stomatal closure. These effects of soil drying were evident in all irrigated treatments during the mid and late stages of the dry season but were more severe in treatments receiving the least water. When irrigation was withheld until the mid-stage of the dry season the trees had similar yields to those that were irrigated throughout, emphasising the importance of providing adequate irrigation between nut set and harvest.When rainfall from January to September in each year of the study was taken into account, there was a strong linear relationship between nut yield and water applied (rainfall + irrigation), with each extra kilolitre of water applied resulting in about 6 extra g nut/m 2 canopy surface area. This linear relationship was based on water application in the range 25-50 kL per season. It is possible that if the seasonal water application had exceeded 50 kL the marginal response to extra water may have diminished. Using drippers was slightly more efficient than sprinklers, with drip-irrigated trees requiring about 5% less water applied to achieve a given nut yield.In years when rainfall is average, and subject to other economic factors, growers in North Queensland should aim to irrigate about 500 L/tree.week. In years of low rainfall between January and September it is likely that yield will be improved by applying more irrigation water; high rainfall during these months of the year may reduce the irrigation requirement. In all cases growers should be careful to accurately monitor water applications, particularly when the total (from rainfall + irrigation) exceeds 40 kL/tree for the season.