Early harvest Fuji is less likely to have watercore, and generally has better colour and internal quality. In general, total fruit yields tended to increase with an increasing rate of nitrogen fertiliser, although this certainly wasn't the case in every season. Leaf nitrogen levels were low in the grassed-down treatments. Table 1 shows the differences in nitrogen levels and the increase in total yield and export packout for two contrasting years. This suggests that poor fruit colour in Fuji may be a young tree problem.
More work is needed to define the effects on nitrogen and understorey management in older trees.
This advance in maturity was mainly due to an increase in the red blush colour of the fruit. The advantages of harvesting Fuji early are that they are less likely to have watercore and have better internal quality than late-harvest fruit. If growers can pick a high proportion of well-coloured fruit in the first pick, this may reduce the total number of picks required and give more even fruit maturity in the cartons. The effects of changes in understorey management on apple fruit quality. New Zealand Ltd. All rights reserved.