Postharvest quality of ‘Baigent’ apples as a function of single and multiple preharvest spray aminoetoxivinylglycine and ethephon applications

Abstract

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of single and multiple pre-harvest spray aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) applications with or without ethephon, in ‘Baigent’ apple trees cultivated under anti-hail screen and harvesting date on fruit quality after storage. The experiment was conducted in a commercial orchard in the municipality of Vacaria/RS, in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 harvests. Treatments consisted of: control (plants sprayed with water); AVG (125 mg L-1, 30 days before the predicted harvest date; BPHD); ethephon (120 mg L-1, seven BPHD); AVG (62.5 mg L-1 + 62.5 mg L-1, 30 and 20 BPHD); AVG (62.5 mg L-1 + 62.5 mg L-1, 30 and 20 BPHD) + ethephon (120 mg L-1, seven BPHD). Fruits of all treatments were harvested at commercial harvest (harvest 1) and after 14 days (harvest 2). Fruits were evaluated after four months of cold storage (0.5 °C ± 0.2 °C and RH 92 ± 5%). The use of AVG, regardless of single or multiple applications, reduced ethylene production rate, skin yellowing, farinaceous pulp and senescent degeneration incidence and maintained higher pulp firmness values and pulp penetration and skin rupture strength. Ethephon provided fruits with higher farinaceous pulp incidence. Fruit treated with AVG, regardless of single or multiple application and combination with ethephon, presents better quality after cold storage.

Maturation of 'Baigent' apples protected by anti-hail nets and sprayed with aminoethoxyvinylglycine and ethephon

“…Hue angle (h°), a color-intensity indicator for determining color differences in fruits that ripen from green to either yellow or shades of red, was calculated with the aid of the CR 400 Minolta colorimeter (Konica Minolta, Tokyo, Japan) and expressed in degrees. The values of h o correspond to surface colors of the plant tissue, as follows: 0 o , red; 90 o , yellow; 180 o , green; and 270 o , blue (Soethe et al, 2019). Two measurements were performed in the equatorial regions of the fruits, one in the least red region and the other in the most red region.…”

“…Apples (Malus domestica Borkh) are the most popular fruit grown in regions of temperate climate in terms of cultivated area and volume produced (Stanger et al, 2017). However, due to the high production and the short period the fruits naturally remain at the correct maturation stage (Brackmann et al, 2015a(Brackmann et al, , 2015b, the adoption of technologies to increase the harvest period is necessary, rationalizing the use of labor and allowing the fruits to be harvested at the ideal point (Scolaro et al, 2015;Soethe et al, 2019). In this context, the application of growth regulators is an alternative to anticipate or delay fruit harvest and to reduce pre-and post-harvest losses (Steffens et al, 2006;Soethe et al, 2019).…”

“…The growth regulator aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) is commercially sprayed on apple trees to increase the harvest period by delaying maturation through its inhibitory action on ethylene synthesis (Brackmann et al, 2014;Soethe et al, 2019). The application of AVG slows down the degradation of starch, as well as the loss of flesh firmness (Steffens et al, 2006), and can provide an increase in yield, due to a reduction in pre-harvest drop and an increase in average fruit mass (Hawerroth et al, 2011;Arseneault & Cline 2016).…”