Bench-grafted 'Fuji/M.26' apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) trees received a constant nitrogen (N) supply (10.7mM) from bud break to the end of June, and were then fertigated with 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20mM N in a modified Hoagland's solution for 2 months during the summer. In mid-October, half of the trees fertigated at each N concentration were sprayed twice with 3% urea, whereas the remaining trees served as controls. All trees were harvested after natural leaf fall and were stored at 2℃. Five trees from each of the N treatment combinations were destructively sampled during dormancy to determine the composition of N and total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC). As the N supply from fertigation increased, amounts of N in both free amino acids and proteins increased, whereas C/N ratios decreased. Foliar urea applications in the fall significantly increased amounts of N in both free amino acids and proteins, but decreased their C/N ratios. Arginine, the most abundant amino acid in both free amino acids and in proteins, accounted for an increasing proportion of N in free amino acids and proteins with increasingNsupply from fertigation or foliar urea application. The ratio of proteinNto free amino acidNdecreased from about 27.1 to 3.2 as N supply from fertigation increased from 0 to 20mM, and decreased further to 3.0 in response to foliar urea applications in the fall. Concentrations of glucose, fructose, sucrose and TNC decreased as theNsupply from fertigation increased, whereas concentrations of sorbitol and starch remained relatively unchanged. Foliar urea applications decreased the concentration of eachTNCcomponent and theTNCconcentration in each N fertigation treatment. A negative linear relationship was found between carbon in TNC and N in proteins and free amino acids. The sum of carbon in TNC, proteins and free amino acids remained constant in response to N supply from fertigation. However, foliar urea applications decreased the sum of carbon in proteins, free amino acids and TNC because about 21% of the decrease in TNC carbonwas not recovered in free amino acids or proteins.Young apple trees storeNand carbon dynamically in response to N supply. As N supply increases, an increasing proportion of N is found in the form of free amino acids, which have a low carbon cost, although proteins remain the main form of N storage. Furthermore, part of the carbon from TNC is incorporated into amino acids and proteins, proteins, decreasing the carbon stored as TNC and increasing the carbon stored as amino acids and proteins.

Approximately 80 days after full bloom, well-exposed fruit on the south part of the canopy of mature Liberty/M9 apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) trees were randomly assigned to one of the following two treatments. Some fruits were turned about 180◦ to expose the original shaded side to full sun, whereas the rest served as untreated controls. On days 0, 1, 2, 4, 7 and 10 after treatment, fruit peel samples were taken from the original shaded side of the treated fruit and both the sun-exposed side and the shaded side of the control fruit at midday, to determine photosynthetic pigments, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. Maximum photosystem II (PSII) efficiency, measured as Fv/Fm (maximum fluorescence) of chlorophyll fluorescence at pre-dawn, was higher in the shaded side than the sun-exposed side of the control fruit. Fv/Fm of the original shaded side decreased sharply after 1 day exposure to full sun, and then gradually recovered to a similar value of the sun-exposed side of the control fruit by day 10. The shaded side of the control fruit had much lower xanthophyll cycle pool size, conversion and antioxidant enzymes and also soluble antioxidants of the ascorbate–glutathione cycle than the sun-exposed side. Xanthophyll cycle pool size of the original shaded side increased in response to full sun exposure, reaching a similar value of the sun-exposed side by day 10. Almost all the xanthophyll cycle pool was converted to zeaxanthin and antheraxanthin starting from the first day of exposure to full sun. In contrast, chlorophyll content decreased whereas lutein or neoxanthin content remained unchanged. In response to full sun exposure, ascorbate peroxidase, monodehydroascorbate reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase and glutathione reductase and total pool size and reduction state of both ascorbate and glutathione, all increased to the corresponding values found in the sun-exposed side of the control fruit over a 10-day period. It is concluded that both xanthophyll cycle and the ascorbate-glutathione cycle in the original shaded side are up-regulated in response to full sun exposure to minimize photo-oxidative damage and contributes to its acclimation to full sun.

Libertyʼ) were monitored in the fi eld over a diurnal course at about 3 months after full bloom. Compared with leaves, sun-exposed peel of apple fruit had much lower photosystem II operating effi ciency at any given photon fl ux density (PFD) and a larger xanthophyll cycle pool size on a chlorophyll basis. Zeaxanthin (Z) level increased with rising PFD in the morning, reached the highest level during midday, and then decreased with falling PFD for the rest of the day. At noon, Z accounted for >90% of the xanthophyll cycle pool in the fruit peel compared with only 53% in leaves. Effi ciency of excitation transfer to PSII reaction centers (Fv'/Fm') was negatively related to the level of Z in fruit peel and leaves throughout the day. In fruit peel, the antioxidant enzymes in the ascorbate-glutathione cycle, ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) showed a diurnal pattern similar to that of incident PFD. In contrast, the activities of APX and GR in leaves did not change signifi cantly during the day although activities of both MDAR and DHAR were higher in the afternoon than in the morning. In both fruit peel and leaves, superoxide dismutase activity did not change signifi cantly during the day; catalase activity showed a diurnal pattern opposite to that of PFD with much lower activity in fruit peel than in leaves. The total ascorbate pool was much smaller in fruit peel than in leaves on an area basis, but the ratio of reduced ascorbate to oxidized ascorbate reached a maximum in the early afternoon in both fruit peel and leaves. The total glutathione pool, reduced glutathione and the ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione in both fruit peel and leaves also peaked in the early afternoon. We conclude that the antioxidant system as well as the xanthophyll cycle responds to changing PFD over the course of a day to protect fruit peel from photooxidative damage.