02122naa a2200157 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000110006024500890007126000090016052016490016965300100181865300090182865300140183777301130185110761052011-05-04       2010    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aEpagri  aAssessment of Bitter Pit Risk in 'Gala' Apples by Fruit Infiltration with Magnesium.  c2010  aBitter pit is a postharvest physiological disorder of apples, related to Ca defi¬ciency, and aggravated by high levels of Mg, N, and K in the fruit. This work was carried out to assess the viability of fruit infiltration with Mg, for preharvest segregation of ?Gala? apples regarding the risk of bitter pit development during cold storage. Fruits were sampled in 50 orchards located in Southern Brazil, in 2003. Samples of 25 fruits per orchard were picked about 20 days before commercial harvest maturity, vacuum infiltrated (100 mm Hg/2 min) in 0.1 M MgCl2 (with 0.3 M sorbitol and 0.05 % Silwet L-77) and then assessed for in¬cidence (%) and severity (pits/fruit) of bitter pit like symptoms. Samples of 120 fruits were harvested in the same orchards, at the commercial maturity. In each of these samples, 100 fruits were stored in regular air cold storage for four months (0±0.5 ºC /90-95% RH) and 20 fruits were analyzed for mineral content (Ca, Mg, K, and N). Cold stored fruit were assessed for incidence (%) and severity (pits/fruit) of bitter pit five days after removal from storage. There was a highly significant linear correlation (r2 = 0.69; p&lt0.001) between the incidence of bitter pit symptoms in Mg-infiltrated fruits and in cold stored fruits not infiltrated with Mg. There was a decrease in Ca and an increase in N contents with increases of incidence and severity of bitter pit in both, Mg-infiltrated and cold stored fruits. The results show that infiltration of ?Gala? apples with Mg before harvest maturity is a feasible method to segregate orchards regarding the risk of bitter pit development during cold storage.  aFruit  aGala  aMagnesium  tIn: INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS, 28., 2010, Lisboa. [Abstracts...]. Lisboa: ISHS, 2010. p. 109-109.