Experience abroad
Comprehensive summaries of the conditions recommended for the storage of commercially important cultivars of apples throughout the world were provided by Meheriuk (1993) and more recently by Kupferman (1997). It is clear from these summaries that the recommended storage conditions for any particular cultivar varies considerably between different growing regions. Individual recommendations for cultivars grown in other countries including Ontario in Canada are available on-line.
- Climatic conditions have a major influence on the response of apples to conditions imposed during storage. Therefore it is not possible to establish universal standard conditions for any particular cultivar.
- Similarly morphological and physiological differences among cultivars affect their response to applied CA conditions which necessitates factorial experiments (carbon dioxide x oxygen x temperature) over several seasons to establish safe effective regimes.
- It is important that growers do not adopt storage regimes advocated in other growing regions as serious damage could be induced in the fruit.
- It is helpful to researchers to be aware of the storage regimes used around the world as these indicate the comparative sensitivities of cultivars to low temperatures, lowered oxygen and elevated carbon dioxide.
- This information is helpful in the planning of storage experiments for cultivars grown in the UK.
