There were seasonal differences in maturity,
however, because apples from all three systems
had higher IECs in 2002 than in 2003 (Table
5). This is common in apple production, where
seasonal differences in climate and crop load
can greatly affect harvest maturity. In both
years, the IEC was several times higher in
apples emerging from RA3 than from either
CA3 or CA6, and at CA3 the IEC was higher
than at CA6 (Table 5). Lower IEC at CA6 is
typical for ‘Gala’ apples, which tend to lose
viability after prolonged storage (Plotto et al.,
1995), making fruit quality differences after 6
months storage a signi cant nding. The IEC
also differed among farming systems after
storage. In 2002, ORG apples had lower IECs
than either CON or INT apples for CA3, and
lower IECs than INT apples for RA3 and CON
apples for CA6 (Table 5). In 2003, ORG and
INT apples had lower IEC than CON apples
for RA3 (Table 5).
Instrumental measurements of fruit quality.
At harvest, ORG and CON apples were rmer
than INT apples in 2002, whereas ORG and
INT apples were rmer than CON apples in
2003 (Table 6). Overall, ORG apples from the
storage treatments in 2002 were 6.51 N rmer
than CON apples and 7.38 N rmer than INT
apples (Fig. 1A). Overall, ORG apples from
the storage treatments in 2003 were 11.2 N
rmer than CON and 5.75 N rmer than INT
apples (Fig. 1A).