Effects of Pneumatic Defoliation on Fruit Quality and Skin Coloration in ‘Fuji’ Apples

Nay Myo Win, Jingi Yoo, Do Van Giap, Sangjin Yang, Soon-Il Kwon, Hun-Joong Kweon, Seonae Kim, Youngsuk Lee, In-Kyu Kang and Juhyeon Park ()
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Nay Myo Win: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Jingi Yoo: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Do Van Giap: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Sangjin Yang: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Soon-Il Kwon: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Hun-Joong Kweon: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Seonae Kim: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
Youngsuk Lee: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea
In-Kyu Kang: Department of Horticultural Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Juhyeon Park: Apple Research Center, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, RDA, Daegu 43100, Republic of Korea

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Fruit skin color and physical quality are important for customer acceptability and market value. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of pneumatic defoliation on the fruit quality, coloration, and anthocyanin content of ‘Fuji’ apples. Apple trees were subjected to no defoliation (control) and defoliation at low (0.6 bar) and high (0.9 bar) air pressure 20 days before harvest at 1 km/h of tractor speed. High-defoliation treatment increased the leaf damage rate but did not significantly affect the defoliation rate compared to low-defoliation treatment. Additionally, photosynthetically active radiation and solar irradiance inside the tree canopies were highest in the high-defoliation group, followed by the low-defoliation and control groups. With the exception of higher firmness in the high-defoliation treatment, pneumatic defoliation treatments had little effect on fruit size and weight, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, the starch pattern index, and the sunburn incidence of fruit. Compared with that of the control group, both defoliation treatments significantly increased the a * and C values and decreased the h o values of the fruit color. Moreover, both defoliation treatments significantly increased anthocyanin content and upregulated the anthocyanin biosynthesis genes ( MdPAL , MdCHS , MdCHI , MdF3H , MdANS , MdANS , MdUFGT ) and the transcription factor ( MdMYB10 ). A Pearson′s correlation analysis also showed that anthocyanin production was strongly correlated with each of the anthocyanin biosynthesis genes, especially in the pneumatic defoliation treatments. Conclusively, the results show that pneumatic defoliation at low pressure bars could be an effective strategy for improving the red coloration of ‘Fuji’ apples.

Keywords: apple; defoliation; fruit quality; skin color; anthocyanin; relative gene expression (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: 2024
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