Articles
Influence of extreme orchard elevations on ripening, storability, and quality of ‘Golden Delicious’
Article number
1458_38
Pages
287 – 294
Language
English
Abstract
In recent years, owing to increasing land scarcity in certain parts of Europe, apple cultivation has been progressively expanding to ever higher elevations.
The warming of the climate over the past few decades, especially in the European Alps, might provide a unique opportunity to turn the challenge into an opportunity.
While apples grown in lowland areas are often reported to have better quality characteristics, few studies have evaluated the fruit quality of apples grown at elevations above 1000 m (a.s.l.) in temperate regions.
In light of the above, the objectives of the 3-year study were to compare the productivity and quality of the apple fruit cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’, stemming from different orchards at moderate (≈600 m a.s.l.) and high (≈1000 m a.s.l.) elevations in South Tyrol (northern Italy). The results revealed slightly lower productivity in the high-elevation orchards compared to the moderate-elevation orchards, with accelerated fruit development but not ripening.
The duration of the fruit development cycle at higher elevations was up to 10 days shorter than at moderate elevations, with high elevation fruit reaching optimal maturity with, on average, 260 to 330 fewer growing degree hours (GDH ≥10°C) compared to the moderate elevation orchards.
Nevertheless, both the fruit of moderate and high elevation orchards exhibited excellent quality.
Certain gustatory-relevant quality attributes, such as firmness and acidity, were superior in high elevation fruit, whereas, apart from the overaccumulation of the epicuticular wax in the coldest of the investigated seasons, no worsening of any of the observed quality parameters was seen with increasing elevation.
Fruit from the higher elevation retained better overall quality even after 4 months of storage in a controlled atmosphere.
The warming of the climate over the past few decades, especially in the European Alps, might provide a unique opportunity to turn the challenge into an opportunity.
While apples grown in lowland areas are often reported to have better quality characteristics, few studies have evaluated the fruit quality of apples grown at elevations above 1000 m (a.s.l.) in temperate regions.
In light of the above, the objectives of the 3-year study were to compare the productivity and quality of the apple fruit cultivar ‘Golden Delicious’, stemming from different orchards at moderate (≈600 m a.s.l.) and high (≈1000 m a.s.l.) elevations in South Tyrol (northern Italy). The results revealed slightly lower productivity in the high-elevation orchards compared to the moderate-elevation orchards, with accelerated fruit development but not ripening.
The duration of the fruit development cycle at higher elevations was up to 10 days shorter than at moderate elevations, with high elevation fruit reaching optimal maturity with, on average, 260 to 330 fewer growing degree hours (GDH ≥10°C) compared to the moderate elevation orchards.
Nevertheless, both the fruit of moderate and high elevation orchards exhibited excellent quality.
Certain gustatory-relevant quality attributes, such as firmness and acidity, were superior in high elevation fruit, whereas, apart from the overaccumulation of the epicuticular wax in the coldest of the investigated seasons, no worsening of any of the observed quality parameters was seen with increasing elevation.
Fruit from the higher elevation retained better overall quality even after 4 months of storage in a controlled atmosphere.
Authors
N. Sadar, A. Zanella, S. Stürz
Keywords
high altitude, apple (Malus × domestica), firmness, greasiness, color
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