Skin-cracking of Cox’s Orange Pippin apples in relation to water stress

SummaryCox’s Orange Pippin apples from trees irrigated late in the season wilted much less when stored at 3.5 °C than fruits from similar trees irrigated early or not at all.Close examination disclosed that the wilting was due to loss of water through many minute cracks in the skin of the shaded side of the fruit.Photomicrographs of transverse sections through the injured parts of fruits indicated that the cracking penetrated into the hypodermis and that it probably arose as a consequence of different growth rates of the cortical and peripheral tissues of the fruits resulting from fluctuating water supply conditions.