Nitrogen and calcium nutrition and fruit quality of commercial apple cultivars grown in Finland

Abstract During 1994–1995, field experiments were conducted in six apple orchards located in the southwest of Finland (the mainland and the Aland Islands). The cultivars were ‘Melba’, ‘Raike’, ‘Red Atlas’, ‘Lobo’, ‘Aroma’, and ‘Akero’. Fruit samples were picked at about one week before commercial maturity and stored for three to six months at 2 to 4°C and 85–95% relative humidity. During storage the percentage of physiological disorders was visually recorded. Fruit nitrogen (N) and calcium (Ca), firmness, diameter, juice titratable acidity (TA), and soluble solids concentrations (SSC) were determined at harvest. Nitrogen and Ca in the soil and leaves collected during fruit development were determined. The ranges in fruit N were 296–624 and Ca 27–68 mg kg‐1 fresh weight, and in the leaves N 15–23 and Ca 9–19 g kg‐1 dry matter. The N/Ca ratio was 5 and 16 and 0.9 and 2.3 in fruit and leaves, respectively. There was more variation between years in N and Ca contents of leaves than that of fruit. Other fruit q...

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