Variability of fruit maturity within the canopy for 'Gala' apple under southern Brazilian conditions

• Autor(a) principal: Argenta, Luiz Carlos
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Bartinick, Vinícius Adão
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Agropecuária Catarinense (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://publicacoes.epagri.sc.gov.br/rac/article/view/1527
• topic: Malus  domestica Borkh; flesh firmness; starch index; harvest; Malus  domestica Borkh; firmeza da polpa; índice de amido; colheita

This study was carried out to analyze the variability of apple fruit maturity within the canopy by analyzing the standard deviation of flesh firmness and starch index. Three experimental orchards were established in three growing sites in southern Brazil. In each experiment (site), apple trees of six 'Gala' apple strains (treatments) were planted on M.9 orMarubakaido rootstocks with M.9 interstem. All fruits from one plant per replicate were harvested on the same day – in the commercial harvest time – for all treatments, at each location, over two years. Flesh firmness and starch index were assessed for each fruit and the standard deviation of these maturity indices was assessed for each plant (replicate). The variability of apple fruit maturity within the canopy was the same for the six 'Gala' strains. The standard deviation was 3.2, 2.2 and 2.1lb for flesh firmness and 2.5, 2.1 and 2.3 for starch index (scale 1 to 9) in of Caçador, São Joaquim and Vacaria growing sites,respectively. The standard deviations of flesh firmness and starch index did not vary between rootstocks or were higher in apple trees on semi-vigorous rootstocks, depending on growing site. The high variability of maturity among fruit within thecanopy shows the value of scheduled harvest (selective picking) in each tree, even for new cultivars whose fruit early develop red color over the most part of their surface. Causes and impacts of variability of apple fruit maturity within the canopy arediscussed.