Influence of growing regions on losses from physiological diseases of fruits cv. Honeycrisp

Abstract

The work was carried out at the Federal Research Center named after I.V. Michurin (Tambov region, Russia) in 2019, using fruits cv. Honeycrisp with a high susceptibility to bitter pit (BP), low temperature breakdown (LTB) and soft scald (SS). Studied fruits were grown at commercial orchards from 6 regions of the Central Federal District (Moscow, Tula, Lipetsk, Kursk, Belgorod, Voronezh). The aim of the research was to assess the influence of meteorological factors of different growing regions on the susceptibility of fruits to physiological diseases during storage. The maximum susceptibility to BP is observed for fruits from the Southern region of the Central Federal District (Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod regions) with high air temperatures (> 25 °C) and moisture deficit (HTC <0.7) during the growing season. The fruits from the Northern region of the Central Federal District (Moscow, Tula regions) with low air temperatures (minimum temperatures <10 °C) and sufficient moisture supply during the growing season (HTC > 1) are characterized by the maximum susceptibility to SS and LTB. An intermediate position is occupied by the Lipetsk region, where the risks of BP, SS and LTB development are quite high. Stressful agronomic factors such as young age of plantations (1-2 years of fruiting), low yield, strong pruning, etc. can cause the development of BP regardless of growing region, with higher risks of disease development under stressful meteorological conditions.