Search Results (20)

This study evaluated the effects of pre-harvest hexanal and post-harvest 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatments on bitter pit incidence and fruit quality in ‘Arisoo’ apples during cold storage. Hexanal (0.02%) was sprayed on trees twice, 18 and 8 days before harvest, and 1-MCP (1 μL·L⁻¹) was applied by fumigation immediately after harvest. Treated apples were subsequently stored at 0.5 ± 1 °C for 5 months. At harvest, the control group showed an incidence rate of 20.6% and a severity score of 0.34, while the hexanal-treated group had a reduced incidence of 13.2% and a severity score of 0.18. Fruit quality parameters did not differ significantly between the control and hexanal-treated groups at harvest. During cold storage, spot incidence significantly increased in the control after 2 months and reached 60.5% after 5 months. In contrast, bitter pit incidence in the hexanal and 1-MCP-treated groups was lower after 5 months, at 46.6% and 47.1%, respectively. No significant difference in spot severity was observed between the hexanal and 1-MCP treatments. Polyphenol oxidase activity increased in all treatments during storage, but both hexanal and 1-MCP significantly inhibited this increase compared to the control. Total sugar and uronic acid contents decreased across all treatments during storage. However, the hexanal and 1-MCP treatments mitigated this reduction relative to the control. At the end of storage, apples treated with 1-MCP had lower internal ethylene concentrations and higher flesh firmness compared to both the control and hexanal-treated apples. In conclusion, pre-harvest hexanal application reduced the bitter pit incidence at harvest and during storage, while post-harvest 1-MCP provided a similar reduction effect and better preserved fruit quality during cold storage. Full article

The goal of this work is to study the effect of the Natural Plant Complex (NPC) “White Pearl” on the yield and marketability of apples after long-term storage. The experiment comprised the following treatments: 1—control (without treatment); 2—foliar sprays (1% solution of “White Pearl Universal (WPU) Antifreeze” + 1% solution of “White Pearl (WP) Drip Ca + Mg”); and 3—foliar sprays (3% solution of “WPU Antifreeze” + 3% solution of “WP Drip Ca + Mg”). Foliar sprays with organomineral fertilizers (1% solution of “WPU Antifreeze” + 1% solution of “WP Drip Ca + Mg”) significantly increased (by 1.8 times) the yield of the experimental apple cultivar compared to the control. After long-term storage, foliar sprays with a 1% solution and 3% solution of NPC “White Pearl” preparations significantly reduced scald damage to ‘Sinap Orlovsky’ apples compared to the control and increased the number of marketable ‘Sinap Orlovsky’ fruits by 1.4 and 1.2 times, respectively, but the 1% solution of organomineral fertilizers was more effective. The experiment that was conducted to evaluate the effect of organomineral fertilizers in apple plantations shows that they can potentially be used to supplement traditional apple cultivation technologies. Full article

The olive oil industry recently introduced a novel multi-phase decanter with the “Leopard DMF” series, which gives a by-product called pâté, made up of pulp and olive wastewater with a high content of phenolic substances and without pits. This study aims to create a new culture medium, the Olive Juice Broth (OJB), from DMF pâté, and apply it to select bacteria strains able to survive and degrade the bitter substances normally present in the olive fruit. Thirty-five different bacterial strains of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum from the CREA-IT.PE Collection of Microorganisms were tested. Seven strains characterized by ≥50% growth in OJB (B31, B137, B28, B39, B124, B130, and B51) showed a degradation of the total phenolic content of OJB ≥ 30%. From this set, L. plantarum B51 strain was selected as a starter for table olive production vs. spontaneous fermentation. The selected inoculant effectively reduced the debittering time compared to spontaneous fermentation. Hydroxytyrosol, derived from oleuropein and verbascoside degradation, and tyrosol, derived from ligstroside degradation, were produced faster than during spontaneous fermentation. The OJB medium is confirmed to be useful in selecting bacterial strains resistant to the complex phenolic environment of the olive fruit. Full article

Cork spot-like physiological disorder (CSPD) is a newly identified issue in ‘Kurenainoyume’ apples, yet its mechanism remains unclear. To investigate CSPD, we conducted morphological observations on ‘Kurenainoyume’ apples with and without pre-harvest fruit-bagging treatment using light-impermeable paper bags. Non-bagged fruit developed CSPD in mid-August, while no CSPD symptoms were observed in bagged fruit. The bagging treatment significantly reduced the proportion of opened lenticels, with only 17.9% in bagged fruit compared to 52.0% in non-bagged fruits. In non-bagged fruit, CSPD spots tended to increase from the lenticels, growing in size during fruit development. The cuticular thickness and cross-sectional area of fresh cells in CSPD spots were approximately 16 µm and 1600 µm², respectively. Healthy non-bagged fruit reached these values around 100 to 115 days after full bloom from mid- to late August. Microscopic and computerized tomography scanning observations revealed that many CSPD spots developed at the tips of vascular bundles. Therefore, CSPD initiation between opened lenticels and vascular bundle tips may be influenced by water stress, which is potentially caused by water loss, leading to cell death and the formation of CSPD spots. Full article

Black olive has become one of the most prestigious olives processed in the olive industry, and its processing has been increased recently in different countries. The firmness of black olives may be changed by the processing methods, fermentation, and solution salts. In this study, the employment of CaCl₂, Ca-acetate, and Ca-lactate during the processing of some Iranian black olive cultivars, including Mari, Zard, Rowghani, Shengeh, Dakal, Dezful, and Fishomi, was evaluated in terms of physicochemical and phenolic compounds and textural attributes. The results showed that Ca-lactate improved the firmness of the Mari cultivar from 1455 to 1765 N/100 g in the pitted olive, and the same trend was obtained for the other cultivars. Ca-acetate improved the black shiny color of the Mari cultivar from 4.36 to 4.85 and the sensorial properties of the black olives, including gustatory and kinesthetic sensations, were improved by using a Ca-lactate solution. The application of calcium salts in the salt-free preservation solutions imparted neither bitterness to the olives nor discoloration. The highest amounts of acid (1.42–1.56%), fructose to mannitol ratio (1–1.2), and phenolic compounds (955–963 mg/kg) were found for the Zard cultivar. Furthermore, the residual content of oleuropein was higher when CaCl₂ was employed (357 mg/kg). All of the calcium salts improved the firmness of the black olives, although the maximum firmness was observed for the Ca-lactate. Consequently, the formation of a black shiny color is related to the diffusion of phenolic compounds; however, this needs further investigation to determine which kind of phenolic compound is responsible for its black color. Full article

The goal of the research is to study the effectiveness of the use of adaptogenic preparations of the Natural Plant Complex “White Pearl” line to increase the yield and quality of apples. The objects of the studies were the apple cultivar “Sinap Orlovsky” and adaptogenic preparations: phytomodulator “White Pearl Universal Antifreeze” and phytocorrector “White Pearl Drip Ca + Mg”. The experiment used the following variants: 1—control (foliar sprays with water); 2—foliar sprays with adaptogenic preparations: 1% solution of “White Pearl Universal Antifreeze” + 1% solution of “White Pearl Drip Ca + Mg”. As a result of the complex use of biological products, the yield was significantly increased by 1.7 times and the average fruit weight was increased by 20.3 g. The adaptogenic preparations increased the yield of marketable apple fruits by 14.8% and contributed to a 2.5-fold decrease in fruits affected by scald and a 2-fold decrease in bitter pitting. The adaptogenic preparations improved the taste qualities of “Sinap Orlovsky” fruits compared to the control by increasing the amount of sucrose by 25.6% and ascorbic acid by 20.5%. The conducted tests of adaptogenic preparations in apple plantations show the prospects of their use as additional techniques in traditional apple cultivation technologies. Full article

This paper presents the results of the transformation into table olives of drupes belonging to three Italian cultivars: Carolea, Leccino and Nocellara Messinese, widely used for virgin olive oil production, by using the two most common methods to produce fermented table olives: the Spanish-style method (SS) and the natural fermentation (NF). The most suitable drupes as table olives due to their flesh-to-pit ratio and high-weight fruits were Nocellara Messinese olives. From the results obtained, it was highlighted that fermentation must be improved by using a selected starter culture that can drive the fermentation by rapid acidification. In fact, the long time required by NF results in a lower pH close to the hygienic safety limit but not low enough to be considered as a stable product, while the fast fermentation obtained by treating the olives with lye solution resulted in pH values that were too high. The sugar content in all table olives was almost null, and the sensory evaluation showed that SS olives were less bitter than NF olives. Moreover, NF olive-flesh samples showed a higher amount of healthy phenolic compounds than SS olives, whose phenolic content was drastically affected by the alkaline treatment and the successive washing steps. Full article

The present research intents to study skin fatty acids and physiological disorders developed during cold storage in ‘Golden Delicious’ apples treated with 1-MCP and calcium. Harvested fruits were treated with calcium chloride (Ca), 1-MCP (MCP), Ca + MCP or no treatment (control) and then subjected to cold storage at 0.5 °C for 6 months. Fatty acids’ composition, malondialdehyde (MDA) and the physiological disorders bitter pit (BP), superficial scald and diffuse skin browning (DSB) were measured at harvest and after storage plus 7 days of shelf-life at room temperature ≈22 °C. Palmitic acid decreased and linoleic acid increased over time, while oleic and stearic acids had few changes. Generally, unsaturated/saturated fatty acids and MDA increased over the storage period. Treatment with Ca showed that, at the end of the experiment, the lowest MDA values and the highest unsaturated/saturated fatty acids ratio were mainly due to higher linoleic and lower palmitic acids concentrations, which are coincident with less severe BP. There was no clear correlation between the measured fatty acids (palmitic, linoleic, oleic and stearic), unsaturated-to-saturated fatty acids ratio or MDA with chilling skin physiological disorders. Further research is needed to clarify the changes in membrane properties and the effect of some treatments in response to chilling injury during storage. Full article

Consumers are more disposed towards paying price premiums for sustainable food products. This fact is especially important for products with a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) label, such as the high-acidity apple cultivar ‘Reinette du Canada’. However, ‘Reinette du Canada’ apple fruit is affected by two of the main post-harvest disorders in apple cultivars, bitter pit and senescent breakdown. As a means to achieve sustainable production of this high-quality apple cultivar, the effect of a sustainable preharvest technique, summer pruning, in combination with a zero-residue postharvest treatment allowed in organic farming on calcium-related disorders and quality in global terms in this PDO-labelled apple cultivar was assessed during storage. The combination of the two sustainable practices was an effective tool in diminishing senescent breakdown from 43% to 17% and to decrease bitter pit incidence by up to 21% (from 36% to 15%) throughout storage, especially in fruit with high susceptibility to this disorder during storage. Moreover, the overall acceptability was kept high (values of more than 3 on a 5-point scale) when applying this environment-friendly sustainable horticulture practice, which will not only reduce the synthetic pesticide input in the apple agroecosystem, but also contribute to producing fruit with zero residues. Full article

This study focused on the development of a new olive-based product enriched with proteins, antioxidant compounds and functional properties, aiming at valorization of the olive residue from the typical olive oil extraction process. Olive oil was extracted using a patented cold pressing machine, resulting in a valuable source of bioactive compounds in the form of olive residue (pulp ~70%, pit- and skin-free). Conventional (solid: water ratio 1:4, 25 °C, 2 h) and HP-assisted (200 MPa, solid:water ratio 1/4, 10 min) de-bittering processes were carried out in order to remove oleuropein content (up to 50%) from olive residue, thus decreasing its bitter taste. The olive spread was prepared with olive residue (50%) and honey (25%), enriched with proteins (24.5%) from nuts. Quality parameters, nutritional attributes, microbiological analysis, phenolic compounds and oxidative stability as well as sensory evaluation of the olive spread were conducted during storage. Its shelf-life was estimated (prediction through accelerated tests) as 9.5 months when stored at 4 °C. The organoleptic evaluation showed that the proposed olive spread had a texture similar to peanut butter and could potentially be consumed as a health-promoting spread due to its high content of proteins (~10 g/100 g), crude fibers (>6 g/100 g) and essential fatty acids. Full article

Calcium deficiency usually causes accelerated quality deterioration in postharvest fruit, whereas the underlining mechanism is still unclear. Here, we report that calcium deficiency induced the development of bitter pit on the surface of apple peels compared with the healthy appearance in control apples during postharvest storage. Physiological analysis indicates that calcium-deficient peels contained higher levels of superoxide anion (O₂^•−), malondialdehyde (MDA), total phenol, flavonoid contents and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, and reduced calcium, H₂S production, anthocyanin, soluble protein content, and peroxidase (POD) activity compared with those in calcium-sufficient peels. The principal component analysis (PCA) results show that calcium content, ROS, and H₂S production were the main factors between calcium-deficient and calcium-sufficient apple peels. Transcriptome data indicated that four calmodulin-like proteins (CMLs), seven AP2/ERFs, and three bHLHs transcripts were significantly differentially expressed in calcium-deficient apple peels. RT-qPCR and correlation analyses further revealed that CML5 expression was significantly positively correlated with the expression of ERF2/17, bHLH2, and H₂S production related genes. In addition, transcriptional co-activation of CML5 by ERF2 and bHLH2 was demonstrated by apple transient expression assays and dual-luciferase reporter system experiments. Therefore, these findings provide a basis for studying the molecular mechanism of postharvest quality decline in calcium-deficient apples and the potential interaction between Ca²⁺ and endogenous H₂S. Full article

Summer pruning reduces vegetative growth in apple trees, but it could have an impact on fruit quality. This study analyzed the effects of summer pruning as an eco-friendly pre-harvest alternative to chemical growth regulation inputs on instrumental and sensory quality of highly vigorous apple cv. ‘Reinette du Canada’, which has been awarded with a Protected Designation of Origin label in two environments. The results showed that summer pruning affected the mineral content of the fruit. Summer pruning reduced bitter pit, but it did not negatively affect fruit weight nor any other instrumental characteristic during storage. Moreover, sensory quality or degree of liking were not affected by summer pruning. Thus, summer pruning could be an eco-friendly pre-harvest alternative to chemical treatments to improve quality in global terms of ‘Reinette du Canada’ apple cultivar, regardless of the location. This technique contributed to the decrease of bitter pit incidence, but did not decrease sensory quality nor degree of liking. Full article

‘Honeycrisp’ (Malus domestica Borkh.), a premium applecultivar, is highly susceptible to bitter pit and decline in quality during long-term storage. In order to enhance the quality, an aqueous composition containing hexanal was applied as a preharvest spray. The effects of hexanal were assessed on the treated fruit and compared with Harvista^TM (a sprayable 1-Methylcyclopropene based commercial formulation) applied and control fruit under both cold (2.5 °C; four months) and cold after room temperature storage (20 °C; 14 days) conditions. Color, firmness, and total soluble solids (TSS) did not show a significant change in response to any treatment at harvest, while abscisic acid (ABA) significantly reduced and tryptophan increased in response to hexanal, compared to Harvista^TM and control. The treatment effects on quality traits were observed during storage. Both hexanal and Harvista^TM sprayed apples had higher TSS under both cold and room temperature storage. In addition, both sprays enhanced firmness at room temperature storage. However, the effects of sprays on other quality traits showed a different pattern. Apples sprayed with hexanal had lower phospholipase D enzyme (PLD) activity, lower incidence of bitter pit, and decreased expression of MdPLDα1 compared to Harvista^TM and control. On the other hand, Harvista^TM treated fruit produced lower ethylene. Both sprays decreased the expression of MdPLDα4, MdCaM2, MdCaM4 and MdCML18 genes. Generally, PLD alpha has a direct role in promoting fruit senescence, whereas the calcium senor proteins (CaM/CMLs) may involve in fruit ripening process via calcium and ethylene interactions. Therefore, improved postharvest qualities, including the lower incidence of bitter pit in hexanal treated ‘Honeycrisp’, may be associated with lower membrane damage due to lower PLD enzyme activity and decreased expression of MdPLDα1 and MdPLDα4 genes throughout the storage period. Full article

There are still unknown factors at play in the causation of bitter pit in ‘Honeycrisp’ as well as in other apple varieties. To investigate some of these factors, we conducted a survey of 34 ‘Honeycrisp’ orchard blocks distributed across two disparate production regions in eastern New York State, representing a variety of rootstocks, over three growing seasons. Weather, soil, horticultural traits, fruit quality traits, pick timing, leaf and peel minerals were evaluated for their impact on bitter pit (BP) incidence; factors were further evaluated for their interaction with region and rootstock. ‘Honeycrisp’ trees on B.9 rootstock were smaller but with comparable terminal shoot growth when compared to those on M.26 and M.9 rootstocks. B.9 fruits, which had similar fruit size to M.26 and M.9 and had good fruit quality at harvest and after storage, were much less likely to express bitter pit symptoms compared to M.9 and M.26 rootstocks. Not all traits evaluated individually correlated significatively with bitter pit incidence after a period in storage. Depending on rootstock and region, the correlation could be significant in one situation, with no correlation at all in another. In this study, peel Mg/Ca ratio and peel Ca correlated with BP for all three rootstocks, with the strongest correlations associated with the M.9 clones. These same traits correlated with BP for both regions. Pick timing had a significant influence on BP incidence following storage, with later picks offering better bitter pit storage performance. While excessively large fruits, those in the 48 and 56 count size categories, were found to be highly susceptible to BP regardless of rootstock, B.9 BP fruit susceptibility for smaller sizes was found to be size neutral. A PLSR prediction model for each rootstock and each region showed that different variables correlated to BP depending on the situation. Thus, the results could suggest that in addition to the variables considered in this study, there are other less studied factors that can influence the expression of BP symptoms. We strongly suggest that rootstock BP performance be considered a critical parameter when planning a commercial ‘Honeycrisp’ orchard and be evaluated in rootstock breeding and development programs prior to wide commercial release. Full article

High temperatures, wind, and excessive sunlight can negatively impact yield and fruit quality in semi-arid apple production regions. Netting was originally designed for hail protection, but it can modify the light spectrum and affect fruit quality. Here, pearl, blue, and red photoselective netting (≈20% shading factor) was installed in 2015 over a commercial “Cameron Select^® Honeycrisp” orchard. Our research objectives were to (1) describe the light quantity and quality under the colored nets compared to an uncovered control and (2) investigate the effect of Photoselective nets on “Honeycrisp” apple quality for two growing seasons. Light transmittance and scattering for each treatment were measured with a spectroradiometer, and samples for fruit quality analyses were collected at harvest. PAR (photosynthetic active radiation), UV, blue, red, and far-red light were lower underneath all netting treatments compared to an uncovered control. The scattered light was higher under the pearl net compared to other colors, while red and far-red light were lower under the blue net. For two consecutive years, trees grown under the photoselective nets intercepted more incoming light than the uncovered trees with no differences among the three colors. In both years, trees under red and blue nets had more sunburn-free (clean) apples than pearl and control. Red color development for fruit was lower when nets were used. Interestingly, bitter pit incidence was lower underneath red nets for both years. Other than red color development, “Honeycrisp” fruit quality was not appreciably affected by the use of netting. These results highlight the beneficial effect of nets in improving light quality in orchards and mitigating physiological disorders such as bitter pit in “Honeycrisp” apple. Full article