-5- 



Table 1. Averages and ranges of concentrations of 5 minerals 

 (ppm, dry wt . basis, outer cortex tissue) in Mcintosh apples 

 from commercial orchards in Massachusetts, 1979-1982. 



z 

 Numbers of samples: 1979 = 34; 1980 = 49; 1981 = 41 

 1982 = 48. 



Relationships between mineral concentrations in fruit at 

 harvest and the occurrences of breakdown, scald, and rot after 

 storage are illustrated in Table 2. For each element, 4 groups 

 of samples were established at arbitrary points within the 

 range for that element, in order to demonstrate the patterns of 

 relationships that appeared to exist. 



Samples with increasing Ca concentrations developed de- 

 creasing amounts of breakdown after storage. In addition, with 

 increasing Ca concentrations, the frequencies of scald and of 

 rot also seemed to decline, though to a lesser extent than did 

 the amount of breakdown. 



Most of the orchards sampled produced fruit with moderate 

 concentrations of K, but a few samples were relatively high in 

 this element. These high-K samples appeared to develop slightly 

 more breakdown and substantially more scald and rot than the rest 

 of the samples, but statistical analyses showed that due to large 

 variations within these groupings, only the effect on scald was 

 real. 



As with K, most orchards produced fruit containing moderate 

 concentrations of P. However, a few samples had relatively low 

 P, and statistical analyses showed that these samples developed 

 relatively large amounts of breakdown and rot. For Mg , a few 



