For the apples, samples of fruits were collected from each row distance and analysed for their quality. The
apple samples were analysed for the following quality parameters:
1. Fruit mass by weighing all fruit together and calculating mean value per fruit.
2. Flesh firmness (FF) after removal of skin with a penetrometer and 11mm diameter plunger (Turoni,
53205 Digital Fruit Pressure Tester, Forli, Italy).
3. Soluble solids content (SSC), in the juice squeezed from each fruit, with a refractometer (