Effects of different irrigation intervals and fertilizer applications on certain chemical contents of ‘Braeburn’ apple cultivar

Abstract

The aim of present study was to investigate effects of different irrigation intervals and fertilizers on total lipid, fatty acid and sugar accumulation of Braeburn apple cultivar under Mediterranean climatic conditions. Irrigation program was performed for two consecutive years with three different intervals (1, 3 and 7 days). In fertilization, 40 g N, 32 g P2O5 and 80 g K2O per tree (with four replications) applied in the same doses for both years, except for the increased N (50 g per tree) for second year, considering the vegetative growth of the trees. The fruits were commercially harvested in 2006 season. The lipid content ranged from 0.22% (daily irrigation without fertilizer) to 0.70% (irrigation in 7 days intervals with fertilizer). The highest fatty acid was obtained from treatment 3 (irrigation in 3 days intervals without fertilizer) (83.95%), while the treatment 6 provided the least value with 64.08% (irrigation in 7 days intervals with fertilizer). Although certain changes on fructose, glucose, sucrose and total sugars content were detected, the differences were not statistically significantly among the treatments.