tailieunhanh - Irrigation intervals affect physicochemical quality attributes and skin cracking in litchi fruit

Increasing irrigation intervals decreased the skin strength and calcium content of the fruit but increased the reducing sugars and ion leakage from skin disks. The data suggest that both pulp and skin characteristics of litchi fruit may determine fruit cracking susceptibility and that increasing the irrigation intervals promotes the incidence of cracking. | Research Article Turk J Agric For 36 (2012) 553-562 © TÜBİTAK doi: Irrigation intervals affect physicochemical quality attributes and skin cracking in litchi fruit Abdur RAB2,*, Ihsan-Ul-HAQ1 1 Hazara Agriculture Research Station, Abbottabad - PAKISTAN 2 Department of Horticulture, KP Agricultural University, Peshawar - PAKISTAN Received: ● Accepted: Abstract: The influence of irrigation intervals on the physicochemical quality attributes and fruit cracking of litchi cultivars was investigated by irrigating 4 litchi cultivars at intervals of 3, 6, and 9 days. It was found that cultivars Gola and Bedana had the highest and lowest fruit weight ( g and g), pulp weight ( g and g), total soluble solids ( and ), total sugars ( and ), and fruit cracking ( and ). While cultivar Gola also had the highest reducing sugars () but the lowest nonreducing sugars (), cultivar Bedana had the lowest reducing sugars () and the highest nonreducing sugars (). Similarly, cultivar Bedana had the highest skin strength ( kg cm–2) compared to the lowest ( kg cm–2) in cultivar Gola. The highest skin calcium content ( mg 100 g–1 DW) was recorded in cultivar Surahi, while boron was the highest ( mg 100 g–1 DW) in cultivar China. In contrast, Bedana had the lowest calcium ( mg 100 g–1 DW) and boron ( mg 100 g–1 DW) contents. The fruit and pulp weight decreased significantly with an irrigation interval of 9 days but the fruit cracking percentage increased significantly from at a 3-day irrigation interval to and at irrigation intervals of 6 and 9 days, respectively. Increasing irrigation intervals decreased the skin strength and calcium content of the fruit but increased the reducing sugars and ion leakage from skin disks. The data suggest that both pulp and skin characteristics of litchi fruit may determine fruit .