Irrigation Management, Fruit Quality, and Storage Life of Apple

Abstract

Abstract ‘Delicious’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ apples (Malus domestica Borkh.) on seedling rootstock were grown with trickle and sprinkler irrigation, both operated at high frequency of irrigation (daily). Trees with trickle irrigation developed lower leaf water potentials and produced less vegetative growth than trees with sprinkler irrigation, but fruit and productivity were similar. Apples from the trickle-irrigated trees had less water content and higher soluble solids than those from sprinkler-irrigated trees. Titratable acidity tended to be lower and both red color in ‘Delicious’ and yellow color in ‘Golden Delicious’ tended to be higher in fruit from trickle-irrigated trees than from sprinkled trees; firmness at harvest was similar regardless of irrigation procedure. Storage life was not influenced consistently by irrigation. Where differences did occur, the fruit from trickle-irrigated trees was softer after storage. Changes in fruit quality similar to those observed in trickle-irrigated trees were produced by imposing, through high frequency deficit irrigation with sprinklers, similar moisture deficits on apple trees, as measured by leaf water potential.