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An observation made in this work was that in every case , ap- 

 ples treated with COp were firmer after storage than ones not 

 treated with COp- Tnese differences were usually sizeable, with 

 the COp-treated apples usually being 1.5 to 3.0 lbs firmer. How- 

 ever, since the scald-controlling property of COp was of greatest 

 concern and could not be commercially applied, tne effect of COp 

 on firmness was overlooked and had been forgotten. 



We are very much interested by these results. We have been 

 conducting some experiments of our own for several years using un- 

 usually high COp levels in CA atmospheres and have found that high 

 levels of COp usually almost prevent softening in storage, even 

 when COp injury is abundant. 



There is clear danger in applying high concentrations of COp 

 even for short periods. COp can cause fermentation and off-flavors 

 as well as cause characteristic fruit injury. Therefore, the in- 

 teresting findings of firmness retention must be examined care- 

 fully before any commercial recommendations may be considered. 

 Although a test last year at Cornell University by R.M. Smock and 

 G.D. Blanpied found no benefit to Golden Delicious or Delicious 

 apples from a brief high-COp exposure, we think that this question 

 needs more examination and intend to give it a great deal of atten- 

 tion in the near future. Our experience has been that apples are 

 reasonably tolerant to COp, especially at low Op levels. Since 

 many storage operators now have COp generators available for use, 

 it would be easy to apply the treatment, and if high COg can cause 

 appreciable retention of fruit firmness, major losses of fruit 

 quality would be avoided. 



************ 



POMOLOGICAL PARAGRAPHS 



Cortland apples in 32°F CA . R.M. Smock and G.D. Blanpied reported 

 in Cornell Fruit Handling and Storage Newsletter , July, 1973, that 

 a few Hudson Valley growers have for a number of years successfully 

 stored Cortland apples in 32 F CA. During the 1972-73 storage sea- 

 son, Smock and Blanpied conducted a study comparing Cortlagd appleg 

 harvested from a number of orchards and stored in CA at 32 F or 38 F, 

 They found no difference in flesh firmness and a taste panel had no 

 preference for Cortlands stored either in 32 F or 38 F CA. These 

 researchers stated that they are almost ready to ghange t^e CA stor- 

 age recommendations for this variety to either 32 F or 38 F. How- 

 ever, they suggest that all CA storage operators store a few boxes 

 of Cortlands at 32°F this 1973-74 storage season in order to con- 

 firm previous years' observations. 



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