Responses of Several Apple Cultivars to Chemical Thinning Sprays

Studies were conducted in 1995 and 1996 at Pontotoc country, Mississippi, U.S.A. to find the effect of two chemical thinners namely: accel (N-phenylmethyl) (H-purine 6-amine (6-BA) and carbaryl (1-Naphthyl carbamate) sprayed two weeks after bloom on the apple fruit characteristics such as fruit set, yield, etc. The three apple cultivars used were ‘Empire', ‘Jon-A-Red' and ‘Braeburn'. The treatments comprised accel (25, 50 and 75 ppm), carbaryl (0.05, 0.1 and 0.2%) and unsprayed control. It was found that accel and carbaryl thinned the three apple cultivars and yield (total fruit weight per tree), pH, sugar content were 0.05) increased by the chemical thinning sprays. Nevertheless,significantly (P 0.05) the number of seeds in the fruit, fruitthe treatments did not affect (P length, fruit diameter and fruit length to diameter ratio. The chemical thinner and cultivar interactions were significant for some fruit characteristics. The Journal of Food Technology in Africa Volume 7 No.1, 2002, pp. 16-20 KEY WORDS: Fruit Thinning, Fruit Set, Yield and Quality