Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Vol. LXV, Issue 1
Written by Cristina MOALE, Leinar SEPTAR, Ion CAPLAN, Lenuța CHIRA, Adrian ASĂNICĂ, Mirela TITIȘINĂ, Mariana TOMA SINGH
The research purpose was to establish the most efficient/suitable strategy for apricot irrigation, in order to obtain high fruits quality, with great aspect, firmness and taste. The apricot trees of 'Orizont’ Romanian cultivar were irrigated in three variants: fully irrigated - FI (V1 = non hydric stress) according to the irrigation needs (100% of ET), low irrigation LI (V2 = partial hydric stress) irrigated with half of water the amount (50% of ETc) and non-irrigated trees, representing the control NI (V3 = hydric stress). After the harvest, the fruits were stored in different storage options: at 20-22ºC (room temperature), 10-12°C (refrigerant conditions) and at 3-5ºC (cold storage), with and without modified atmosphere for different periods of time. At the harvest moment and after that, a couple of determinations were made, as concern the organoleptic quality of the fruits (aspect, firmness and taste). The results revealed that the organoleptic quality of the apricots at the time of the harvest and its evolution during storage, varied according to the irrigation schedule. Thus, the highest values of the organoleptic parameters were obtained at the non-irrigated variant, followed by the low irrigated variant.
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