Effects of calcium and/or phosphorus sprays with different commercial preparations on quality and storability of Šampion apples

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Investigations on the effect of spraying trees with various calcium, phosphorus and calcium-phosphorus preparations were carried out in [1999][2000][2001]. Effects of sprays depended on the type of preparation. Foliar calcium fertilization increased Ca concentration in apples; however, the effectiveness of the used fertilizer also depended on the season. A high calcium content in apples was measured when treated with the new Polish preparation Kalcisal. This effect was observed in all years of investigations. A better calcium supply affected the appearance of apples (usually more green background peel colouring, reflected in the chlorophyll content). In storage these fruits ripened later and lost less of their firmness than apples from control trees. With the higher calcium content in fruits the share of apples with physiological disorders decreased. The lowest losses of apples related to physiological disorders were observed when trees were sprayed with the solutions of Kalcisal or Rosacal.Keywords: Šampion apple; calcium and phosphorus sprays; quality and storability 13HORT. SCI. (PRAGUE), 31, 2004 (1): [12][13][14][15][16] was applied to evaluate the significance of differences between the means, at the significance level of 5%. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONFoliar fertilization of trees significantly affected the amount of calcium detected in the apple flesh with peel. The highest value of this element was characteristic of fruits from trees that were sprayed with Kalcisal solutions. It should be stressed that in the remaining combinations of fertilization, apples were characterized by a significantly higher calcium content than the fruits from the control combination. Similarly like in the case of calcium, the phosphorus content also differed statistically. As compared to the control, a significantly higher content of this element was measured in the apples obtained from trees that were sprayed with solutions of the following preparations: Rosafos, Seniphos, Wuxal Top P and Kalcifos (Table 1).In many papers dealing with fruit storability, special attention is paid to the importance of the physiological status of apples during harvest. The present experiment revealed that all the tested preparations significantly slowed down the degree of starch hydrolysis in fruits as compared to apples from the control combination. It means that fruits from trees sprayed with calcium salt solutions can ripen later, which should be included in decisions concerning the time of apple harvest. Another indicator of the evaluation of the apple physiological status and, at the same time, one of the most important parameters of fruit quality is their firmness. In the case of this indicator, the foliar calcium and/or phosphorus fertilization appeared to limit the decrease in apple firmness significantly although differences between the Means marked with the same letter do not differ at the level of α = 0.05 Table 2. The value of starch index at harvest and firmness of Šampion apples after two months of storage depending on the pre...

Bitter pit in apples: pre- and postharvest factors: A review

“…Wójcik & Szwonek (2002) recommend use of the fertilizer with 22.5% Ca(NO 3 ) 2 for apple cultivars that are sensitive to physiological disorders related to a deficiency of Ca. In addition to spraying with Ca, a combination with P or self treatment with P is also effective (Tomala & Soska, 2004).…”

The Effects of Preharvest 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) Treatment on the Fruit Quality Parameters of Cold-Stored ‘Szampion’ Cultivar Apples

“…In order to increase the quality of produced 'Szampion' cultivar apples, various actions are taken, including spraying trees [2], modified atmosphere storage [3], and edible coatings [4], but also postharvest treatment by 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) [5]. 1-MCP is commonly used in postharvest treatment also for other cultivars, such as 'Aroma', 'Red Gravenstein', 'Summered Norvegian' [6], 'Idared' [5], 'Granny Smith' [7], 'Red Delicious' [8], 'Cripps Pink' [9], and 'Jonah King' cultivars [10].…”

THE EFFECTS OF FOLIAR NUTRITION WITH InCa FERTILIZER ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF LEAVES AND FRUITS OF SWEET CHERRY

“…In sweet cherry, calcium reduces the adverse effect of fruit cracking [Fernandez and Flore, 1998, Sitarek and Grzyb 1999, Chełpiński et al 2007, and in apples it reduces the risk of physiological disorders and improves storability [Andziak et al 2004, Tomala and Soska 2004]. Foliar nutrition is a common approach ensuring adequate amounts of calcium in the fruit.…”