ChileanJAR

Richard Delicious apple trees were sprayed one maonth prior to harvest with 2000 ppm Alar (N-dimetilaminosuccinamic acid) and/or 15 ppm NAA (Naphtalene acetic acid). The treatments were: I) Control, 2) Alar, 3) NAA, 4) NAA followed by Alar three days later, 5) Alar followed by NAA three days later, and 6) Alar and NAA together. Prior to harvest, fruits on Alar-treated trees softened at a slower rate than those from the controls but their soluble solids content and final size were the same. Alar treated fruits were still firmer after four and six months storage at 0ºC than those of the control. Fruits harvested from trees sprayed with NAA were not appreciably different from the controls. Fruits treated with a combination of alar and NAA exhibited intermediate effects between those treated with Alar or NAA alone. Alar alone also delayed blooming the following spring.