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This past spring, we recorded some significant features of 

 "soft Mcintosh." During the past two years, we have conducted an 

 experiment with the help of Bill Pearse of the J. P. Sullivan Co. 

 and Joe Costante, Regional Fruit Specialist, to determine if Alar 

 might be increasing the softening rate of Mcintosh. Trees were 

 selected in 13 orchards in Massachusetts, and half of each tree was 

 sprayed with Alar* while the other half was not. A bushel sample 

 of fruit from each half of the trees was harvested on two dates one 

 week apart, and they were all stored together in CA at the Horti- 

 cultural Research Center, Belchertown. 



In 1972-73, Alar* fruits in all instances were firmer at har- 

 vest than the non-sprayed fruits (Table 1) . The firmness differ- 

 ence between Alar* and non-Alar* fruits disappeared somewhat in 

 storage. However, with 3 exceptions, the Alar fruits still remained 

 somewhat firmer at the end of storage than the non-sprayed fruits. 

 The apples kept exceptionally well during this 1972-73 storage per- 

 iod and there were virtually no soft apples among those examined. 



Table 1. 



Treatment 



Influence of Alar* on firmness of 'Mcintosh' apples at 

 harvest and after storage. 



Firmness at harvest 



Firmness after CA storage 



In 1973-74, the fruit were considerably softer at harvest than 

 in 1972-73 (Table 1). Once again, the Alar* fruits were firmer at 

 harvest than the non-Alar* fruits, but the firmness difference dis- 

 appeared in storage. When the fruit was pressure-tested and exam- 

 ined 1 day after removal from CA storage it was apparent the fruits 

 were soft but did not have the characteristic "soft Mac problem." 

 After 4 days at room temperature, however, some lots of fruit de- 

 veloped the characteristic "soft Mac problem," which was more severe 

 in the later picking. 



On the average, there was no effect of Alar on firmness after 

 storage (Table 1). Furthermore, within only the samples from orch- 

 ards that produced soft fruit, there was no difference between con- 

 trol and Alar*-treated fruit. We find no evidence that Alar*, if 

 properly used, is contributing to the "soft Mac problem." We dT3" 

 note, however, that after storage until May, Alar^^treated fruit con- 

 tained more browncore than control fruit, a response that also has 

 been reported from New York. 



