Foliar Fertilization of Potassium Silicon Improved Postharvest Fruit Quality of Peach and Nectarine [ Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] Cultivars

Walid Abidi (), Rawaa Akrimi, Hichem Hajlaoui, Hichem Rejeb and Yolanda Gogorcena
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Walid Abidi: Regional Center for Agricultural Research of Sidi Bouzid (CRRA) PB 357, Sidi Bouzid 9100, Tunisia
Rawaa Akrimi: Regional Center for Agricultural Research of Sidi Bouzid (CRRA) PB 357, Sidi Bouzid 9100, Tunisia
Hichem Hajlaoui: Regional Center for Agricultural Research of Sidi Bouzid (CRRA) PB 357, Sidi Bouzid 9100, Tunisia
Hichem Rejeb: Institut Supérieur Agronomique Chott Meriem, Université de Sousse, Sousse 4042, Tunisia
Yolanda Gogorcena: Departament of Pomology, Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (CSIC), Avda de Montañana 1005, 50059 Zaragoza, Spain

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Peach fruit quality is dependent on preharvest treatments and orchard practices. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of preharvest potassium silicon fertilization on fruit postharvest quality. Two peach cultivars (“Early Bomba” and “Plagold 17”) were sprayed with three concentrations of potassium silicon (K-Si) at fruit set, stone hardening, and physiological maturity stages. The applied treatments corresponded to control (T0 = 0% K-Si) pulverized with distilled water and two K-Si treatments (T1 = 3% K-Si and T2 = 4.5% K-Si). The blooming and harvesting dates, vegetative growth and agronomical parameters were analyzed over two growing seasons (2021–2022). Peach fruits were stored at 5 °C and 95% RH during two cold storage periods (2 and 4 weeks) followed by 2 days at room temperatures. The fruit weights (FW), color, firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), pulp stone ratio (P/S) and fruit weight loss (FWL) were evaluated. The anthocyanins, flavonoids, total phenolics, carotenoids and antioxidant capacity (DPPH) were determined. Vitamin B5 and vitamin C were analyzed by HPLC. The ethylene rate and the chilling injury symptoms (CI) were analyzed after two cold storage periods (2 and 4 weeks). Results showed that the applied potassium silicon treatments (3% K-Si and 4.5% K-Si) enhanced the FW, SSC, TA, FWL, fruit composition and CI. Anthocyanins and total phenolics increased after cold storage period under K-Si treatments. The nectarine cultivar (cv) Early Bomba showed low sensibility to chilling injury symptoms as compared to the cv Plagold 17.

Keywords: peach and nectarine; potassium silicon; storage; ethylene; fruit decay (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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