USING SOME NUTRIENTS AND ESSENTIAL OILS FOR IMPROVING ‘CRIMSON SEEDLESS’ GRAPES COLOR
The climate in Egypt is cool winters and hot dry summer. ‘Crimson seedless’ is a table grape under certain environmental conditions, the fruit exhibits inadequate red color development, causing economic losses due to lower product quality even after they have been treated with ethephon. Essential oils are extracted from the flowers, barks, stems, leaves, roots, fruits, and other parts of the plant by various methods. Essential oils in general are used as antimicrobial and antioxidant and also have pharmacological effects been described in pharmacopeias. In this paper, we discuss the effect of essential oils also in coloring. The use of plant growth regulators, such as Abscisic (ABA) and boric acids during development increases the anthocyanin content of the skin, improving the color of the berry. In the current study, a randomized block design was used and treatments included the application of ten different pre-harvest. Treatments were: Control (C), 1% Boric acid (BA), 2% Boric acid (BA), 1% Abscisic acid (ABA), 2% Abscisic acid (ABA), 1% Rosemary oil (RO), 2% Rosemary oil (RO), 1% camphor oil (CO), 2% camphor oil (CO), 2% ethephon. Clusters were sprayed twice. The first one was in the version stage, the second application was performed for all treatments, 15 days after the first application, except for the control. On harvest day 3 clusters per treatment were taken at random for the determination of harvest physical and chemical properties and compared with clusters which storage at room temperature as a market condition. Grapes treated with Abscisic acid 1% or Boric acid 1% or Camphor oil 2% could be harvested 15 - 30 days before controlling grapes because of their advanced color development and that due to lower costs by reducing the number of harvests. Due to the need for an economic alternative for table grape production, Clusters had a great consumer acceptance through visual sensory analysis such as firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), the index of maturation (TSS/TA), and total polyphenols of berries and quality in marketing.
Crimson Seedless, Grape, Abscisic acid, Boric acid, Rosemary oil, Camphor oil