Researchers are using advanced medical technologies to unravel the relationship between storage disorders and internal structure in pome fruit. By Anna Mouton. Commercial controlled-atmosphere storage has been around for nearly a century and helped fresh apples become a year-round supermarket…
The search continues for chemical rest-breaking alternatives to hydrogen cyanamide for South Africa’s pome-fruit industry. By Jenny Underhill. Rest-breaking agents stimulate and synchronise bud break in fruit crops that do not receive adequate winter chilling to overcome dormancy. Since most…
Trials have identified potential alternatives to calcium hypochlorite for sanitising pack-house flume water. By Anna Mouton. Many pome pack houses use granular calcium hypochlorite to sanitise their flume water because it’s effective, inexpensive, convenient, and readily available. But consumer concerns…
A recently concluded Hortgro-funded study investigated the most common culprits and how to control them. By Anna Mouton. Saprophytic fungi help keep the global carbon cycle spinning by digesting dead organic matter, but, unfortunately, their food sources include the stems…
A joint venture between Hortgro and Dutoit Agri aims to reduce losses of exportable apples due to bruising. By Anna Mouton. “We produce 70% export-quality fruit off the tree, but we struggle to get 50% into an export carton,” says…
Experts explain two agrochemical options that growers can use to manage harvest maturity. By Anna Mouton. Ethylene is a plant hormone that promotes fruit ripening, flower opening, and leaf dropping. In mature pome and most stone fruit, ethylene drives the…
What happens in the orchard doesn’t stay in the orchard. By Anna Mouton. Apples’ storage potential is largely determined by their condition at harvest. Most growers are well aware of the crucial role of optimum maturity, but factors such as…
Growers consider many factors when deciding which cultivars to plant — postharvest performance should be one of these. By Anna Mouton. Planting trends often follow fruit prices, observes Keith Bradley, general manager of Fruitways AgriServices. “People look at their returns…
The following applies to all scald-susceptible fruit. Preharvest risk factors Hot and dry weather in the weeks before harvest. Increased risk could be the result of drought stress. Both increase ethylene and α-farnesene — important precursors of superficial-scald promoting compounds.…
Technology can safely maintain fruit at minimal oxygen levels during long-term storage to effectively inhibit superficial scald in Granny Smith. By Anna Mouton. The idea that oxygen removal can prevent superficial scald in apples isn’t new — it was first…