Thinning and Bagging Treatments and the Growing Region Influence Anthocyanin Accumulation in Red-fleshed Apple Fruit

In common apple cultivars with white flesh and red skin, it is known that fruit overload lowers fruit quality, and that skin anthocyanin concentrations are reduced by bagging treatment and warmer climatic conditions. In this study, the effects of these factors on anthocyanin accumulation in the flesh of red-fleshed apples were investigated using ‘Geneva’ and ‘Pink Pearl’ apple cultivars. Excess fruiting resulted in decreased anthocyanin concentration in the flesh and the titration acidity of the fruit in both cultivars. Fruit bagging treatments using double-layer paper bags revealed that anthocyanin was synthesized to a certain extent in the flesh under dark conditions in both cultivars. The treatment significantly reduced anthocyanin accumulation in the flesh of bagged ‘Geneva’ apples compared with unbagged fruit, but no inhibitory effect was clear in ‘Pink Pearl’ apples. In both cultivars, the anthocyanin concentration in the flesh of unbagged apples grown in sunlight was higher than that in unbagged apples grown in shade, whereas there was no difference between positions for bagged fruit. In apples grown in either sunlight or shade, no significant difference was found between anthocyanin concentrations in the sun-exposed side and shaded side of fruits. These results indicate that sunlight irradiation partially promoted anthocyanin accumulation in the flesh of unbagged ‘Geneva’ and ‘Pink Pearl’ apples and accelerated its accumulation on both the sun-exposed and the shaded side. A comparison of the fruit quality of ‘Pink Pearl’ apples grown in different climatic regions showed that apples harvested at Suzaka, a warmer region, were lower in firmness, starch index, and titration acidity and higher in soluble solids concentration compared with those from Morioka, a cooler region. The anthocyanin concentration in the flesh of ‘Pink Pearl’ apples from the trees grown at Morioka was more than ten-fold higher than that in apples from the trees grown at Suzaka. Our results suggest that an appropriate fruit load, growth in sunlight, and growth under cooler climatic conditions, may redden the flesh of red-fleshed apples, as is the case for common apples.

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