be brought back up immediately . Storage conditions should be 

 watched closely and recorded. (The gas analyzer, the aspirator bulb, 

 and all sample lines should have been carefully checked before seal- 

 ing, and any indication of malfunction during storage should be 

 checked-out immediately. Porous aspirator bulbs, which result in 

 higher O2 readings than actually exist in the room, have been respon- 

 sible for severe low O2 injury to fruit.) It is well to sample fruit 

 periodically during the storage season. (See: "The Soft Mcintosh 

 Problem", Fruit Notes, Sept. -Oct. 1974: pp. 1-4) 



Successful storage operation requires attention to details, 

 from the beginning of harvest to the sale of the last apples. Any 

 mistake or oversight can be disastrous, especially with the trend 

 to longer storage periods: the longer apples are kept, the more 

 important are the details. The successful operator should recog- 

 nize a problem as it develops, and adjust his marketing practices 

 accordingly. For example, if cooling in some fruits has been inade- 

 quate, these fruits should be disposed of as quickly as is feasible. 

 Long-term storage should be attempted only with apples that have 

 "everything going for them". Long-term CA does not correct mistakes; 

 it only underlines them. 



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



BRUISING OF APPLES AFTER PACKING 



W. J. Bramlage 

 Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



Dr. George Mattus has been conducting extensive studies in recent 

 years on the condition of apples in the distribution centers and 

 retail stores of Virginia. He has often observed a great deal of 

 impact bruising on apples, indicating damage that is occurring during 

 handling of the packed fruit. To determine some of the factors 

 associated with this bruising and to try to find ways of reducing 

 it. Dr. Mattus conducted a series of tests this Spring that pro- 

 duced some impressive results. Some of his findings are reported 

 here. 



In one series of tests, carefully harvested apples of 5 dif- 

 ferent cultivars were packed in fiber or foam trays, which were 

 packed in cartons. Both 88- and 100-size packs were tested. In 

 addition, 6 different cultivars were packed in 3- lb poly bags, 

 which were placed in 12-bag cartons. Two different cartons for 

 the bags were tested: 1 carton had 12 single cells, 1 for each 

 bag, whereas the other carton had only 4 cells, so that 3 bags 

 were packed in each cell -- 2 vertically and 1 horizontally. 



Each carton was dropped once , from either a 6- inch or a 12- 

 inch height. Injury to the fruit was tabulated and is shown in 

 Table 1. 



