Watercore and fruit quality of apple cultivars as influenced by harvesting time and calcium sprays Khan Farooq Ahmad*, Kumar Amit, Narayan Sumati, Khan Faheemullah, Astha1 Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar-190025, Distt. Srinagar (J&K) 1RVSKVV, Gwalior (M.P.) *Corresponding Author: drkhan_387@skuastkashmir.ac.in
Online published on 9 November, 2023. Abstract The present investigation was carried out at division of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Horticulture, SKUAST-K, Shalimar during the year 2019 to 2021 to determine the role of harvest maturity and pre-harvest calcium chloride sprays on incidence and severity of watercore and fruit quality thereof. Two varieties of apple viz., Red Delicious (V1) and Silver Spur (V2) were foliar sprayed with CaCl2 (0.0-S1), 0.5 (S2), 1.0 (S3) and 1.5% (S4) at 14, 7 and 0 days before expected dates of fruit harvest (M). Fruits were harvested 1 week after foliar spray that made 3 harvesting dates (M1, M2 and M3). Fruits were stored in CA at 3±1°C. Each treatments replicated thrice. After 2-monts of storage, fruits were analyzed for their watercore incidence and physico-chemical quality. Data indicated that V2 was more susceptible to watercore 8.2%) compared to V1 with 3.6 % watercore. Maximum and minimum watercore incidence was noted with late (M3) and early (M1) with measured values of 9.0 and 2.7 percent, respectively. Foliar spray of 1.0 percent CaCl2 was proved as most appropriate in reducing the watercore of apple fruits. Top Keywords Apple, Mass density, Physiological disorders, Sorbitol, Thermography, Watercore. Top |