Introduction

Calcium is an important nutrient to increase quality and yield in horticultural crops, is considered the most important mineral for the quality of apples, some research has shown its incidence in the reduction of certain physiological alterations (such as bitter pit, watery heart and internal decomposition), in maintaining the firmness of the pulp and preventing the incidence of fungal rotting. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the industrial calcium carbonate by-product (CaCO3) on the quality atributes, phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of apples cvs Golden Delicious and Top Red.

Method

Trees of 21 years of age cultivated in the region of Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua were used. Mexico, the treatments were Kg ha-1 of CaCO3 (and its equivalent in Ca per ha): Control without application T1, 282.70 (100) T2; 565.30 (200) T3; 847.90 (300) T4; 1130.60 (400) T5; 1413.20 (500) T6; 1695.90 (600) T7; 1978.50 (700) T8; 2261.20 (800) T9; 2543.80 (900) T10; 2826.50 (1000) T11; 3957.00 (1400) T12, respectively. The variables evaluated were: Ca (%) content, yield, diameter, weight, color, firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, soluble solids/acidity relation), total phenols and antioxidant capacity.

Results

Results showed statistical differences (p ≤ 0.05) between cultivars, treatments increased Ca content, firmness was significantly higher, the Top Red variety presented the highest values ​​of phenolic compounds with 3.587 mg g -1 of gallic acid, while the Golden Delicious variety had the highest antioxidant capacity with 2.27 mg g-1 of Trolox.

Discussion or Conclusion

It is concluded that the application of CaCO3 influenced the parameters of quality, content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity in Top Red and Golden Delicious.