Analysis of Ca and N fertilization in aromas in apples

Aroma is the most important quality factor for the consumer?s evaluation of apples. The content of compounds known to be important to apple aroma is affected by orchard management, maturity and ripening and storage conditions. In this study the content of esters, alcohols and other related compounds has been measured. Twomethods has been compared; analyses of compounds extracted from the air (headspace) over whole apples and over crushed apples stabilised with CaCl2. Three cultivars were included. ?Discovery? (early ripening cultivar) and ?Aroma? (medium to late ripening cultivar) were analysed in three seasons. ?Elstar? (late ripening cultivar when grown in Norway) was included one year. Apples were picked from trees given extra nitrogen and/or calcium as foliar fertilizers (urea, and/or calciumchloride).These treatments were performed in the cell division phase (2 to 5 weeks after petal fall). The fruits were analysed at harvest and during storage. Nitrogen treatment increased the content of hexanal and other compounds known to be abundant in unripe apples. Calcium treatment reduced the content of esthers known as fruity, sweet and pleasant. However, when treated with both Ca and N the negative effects of foliar fertilization on aroma were reduced. Even though the foliar applications with Ca and N did not significantly increase the contents of these elements in leaves and fruits, cluster analyses showed that the effects of calcium and nitrogen treatments were similar in different cultivars and storage times. However control fruit (non tretated) differentiate from fruits fertilized with Ca, N or combination CaN. SourceAROMA COMPOUNDS IN APPLES FROM TREES SPRAYED WITH CALCIUM AND NITROGEN FERTILIZERSVangdal, E1, Gibalova, A1, Vidrih, R2, Leufven, A3, B?rve, J1, Lunde Knutsen, I1eivind.vangdal@bioforsk.no1Bioforsk Ullensvang, Lofthus, Norway2University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia3Nofima Mat, ?s, NorwayIHC 2014, International Horticulture Congress, 17-22 August 2014, Brisbane,http://www.ihc2014.org/