Effect of spraying some natural compounds on quality and marketing of "anna" apple fruits

الملخص EN

This investigation was carried out during two successive seasons 2017 and 2018 to study the effect of some natural compounds on quality and extend the storage period of seven years old "Anna" apple trees (Malus domestica L.

) budded on Malus rootstock grown in sandy soil, under drip irrigation system and grown in a private orchard at El-Nubaria region, El-Behira governorate, Egypt.

Trees were sprayed in two application times at (15 ^th and 22 ^th May) during 2017 and 2018, respectively, with a hand sprayer to the run off.

Treatments included lysophosphatidylethanolamine (LPE) at (125 and 250) mg/L, phenylalanine at (100 and 200) mg/L and Ethrel at (250 and 500) mg/L and water as a control.

Results showed that, at harvest, LPE and phenylalanine treatments were more effective in increasing physical characteristics such as (fruit weight, size, fruit length and diameter) in both seasons compared with other treatments.

Meanwhile, both concentration of Ethrel did not affected on these characteristics in both seasons.

Furthermore, in two seasons of study, LPE led to a marked increase in fruit firmness as compared with other treatments.

On the contrary, both phenylalanine and Ethrel treatments decrease fruit firmness but the differences were big enough to be significant compared to the control, except for phenylalanine at 200 mg/L in both seasons.

All substances increased red skin color compared to control, also, different treatments caused a reduction of chlorophyll (a, b) contents and acidity compared to control in both seasons.

Using Ethrel at (250 and 500) mg/L caused a significant increase in TSS in both season as compared with other treatments except Ethrel at 250 mg/L in the second one.

In addition, LPE at 250 mg/L increased ascorbic acid content in both season as compared with other treatments.

Phenylalanine and Ethrel treatments caused a higher effect in increasing total sugars content than other treatments.

Concerning cold storage period, spraying Ethrel at (250 and 500) mg/L caused a reduction in chlorophyll (a, b) contents and acidity as compared with other treatments in both seasons.

Fruit weight loss% and fruit disorders percentage were decreased with LPE applications in both seasons.

There is positive correlation between Ethrel and fruit weight loss in both seasons.

Pre-harvest spraying Ethrel recorded the highest values of TSS and total sugars while, vitamin C followed somewhat similar pattern to that of the result at harvest.

It could be concluded that, pre-harvest spraying of LPE and Phenylalanine before harvest could increases physical characteristics, improves color, decreases fruit disorders and extend the storage period of "Anna" apple fruit.