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Effect of Calcium and Boron in Reducing the Incidence of Sunburn in Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh. cv. ‘Golden Delicious’)

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Abstract

Improper management of nutrition and environmental stresses leads to a reduction in yield and an increase in some disorders, especially sunburn in apple. The present research was conducted with the aim of reducing or eliminating the disorder of sunburn using calcium and boron in apple (Malus × domestica Borkh. cv. ‘Golden Delicious’). The effect of different treatments of calcium and boron applied twice for reducing sunburn and the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of ‘Golden Delicious’ apples were investigated. The results showed that the first treatment (mid-May) had significant effects on the fruit characteristics compared with the control. The results also showed that foliar application of 1% calcium and 2 g/L boron in mid-May has a better effect on reducing sunburn and increasing the quality of ‘Golden Delicious’ apple, and it is suggested to use this in the orchards. Preventive foliar application of calcium and boron not only significantly reduces pre-harvest sunburn damage, but can also have a positive effect on the characteristics of the fruit after harvest.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

A. Khadivi and A. Hosseini conducted the experiments and collected the data; A. Khadivi analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. Both authors approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ali Khadivi.

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Conflict of interest

A. Khadivi and A.-S. Hosseini declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical standards

For this study, we acquired permission to study the fruit species issued by the Agricultural and Natural Resources Ministry of Iran. The either cultivated or wild-growing plants sampled comply with relevant institutional, national, and international guidelines and domestic legislation of Iran.

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Khadivi, A., Hosseini, AS. Effect of Calcium and Boron in Reducing the Incidence of Sunburn in Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh. cv. ‘Golden Delicious’). Applied Fruit Science 66, 781–786 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10341-024-01067-y

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