STUDY OF THE OPTIMAL PRODUCTION PROCESS AND APPLICATION OF APPLE FRUIT [MALUS DOMESTICA (L.) BORKH] FERMENTATION

Abstract

In orchard production, fruit abscission is common due to insect damage, disease, crop thinning and natural dropping. However, the utilization of these discarded plant resources has received little research attention. In this study, we used apple fruit from such plant resources, mainly young and mature dropped fruit, as materials and mixed them with a fermentation agent, brown sugar and water. The effects of the proportion of fermentation agent and the fermentation conditions (O2, temperature, fermenting time and fruit crushing degree) were studied using an orthogonal experimental design. We discovered a novel fermented fertilizer, apple fruit fermentation nutrient solution (AFF), for which the optimal fermentation formula and conditions were comminuted young apples: fermentation agent: brown sugar: water weight ratio of 5:0.1:1:4 and 45 days of aerobic fermentation. Analysis of the fermentation solutions showed that the supernatant obtained using these optimized parameters had the highest mineral element content among the fermentation formulas and conditions studied. The results of a spraying experiment with 200-, 500- and 800-fold dilutions showed that AFF significantly promoted the net photosynthetic rate, leaf area and thickness, specific leaf weight, and chlorophyll and mineral element content in the leaves of young apple trees relative to the control treatment. The effects of 200-fold diluted AFF on the photosynthetic rate, the developmental quality and mineral element contents were greater than those of the 500- and 800-fold dilutions. The results of the spraying of adult trees with 200-fold diluted AFF compared to a water control demonstrated that AFF significantly enhanced the average weight of a single fruit, the shape index, hardness, content of soluble solids, titratable acid content, vitamin C content, and aroma compound content of the fruit of the adult trees. This evidence suggests that the AFF obtained using the optimal production process could effectively improve the vegetative growth and fruit quality of apple trees.