1 Acta Horticulturae (ISHS) 2009, 825:539-546; http://www.actahort.org/ Relationships between Life Shelf, Health and Quality of Apple Fruit V. Chitu, E. Chitu, S. Nicolae L. Filipescu, A. Ionita, M. Murgea Carjaliu Research Institute for Fruit University “Politehnica” of Bucharest Growing Pitesti, Romania Faculty of Industrial Chemistry, Romania Keywords: foliar treatment, ripening parameters, storage, disease, physiological disorder Abstract An open field experiment regarding the behavior of Jonathan cv apple fruit during temperature control storage was set up to RIFG Pitesti – Maracineni, Romania. Field test was organized on 2 plots (V1, reference plot and V2, foliar treated plot with Frucol 0.5% solution) and randomized over three replicates and 10 fruits analysis per plot. The fruit treatment was extended with calcium chloride 1% solution application in two stages before and after harvesting. All fruit quality parameters measurements were made immediately before the harvest, and after 90 day, and respectively 180 days of storage, using common recommended procedures. Causes and extent of fruit decay on whole length of storage were broadly discussed and analyzed in terms of foliar treatment outcome and impact. Statistical correlation according to Duncan test and Shapiro-Wilk were use to validate the results consistency. Some relevant accounts on storage diseases and physiological disorders responsible for fruit decay and breakdown concluded the study, on the grounds of microbiological tests and visual surveillance over entire period of storage. INTRODUCTION Apple physiological disorders naturally developed during the postharvest storage is of great concern for any fruit producer and retailer. The severity of these disorders with significant impacts on quality and fruit availability for marketing is the outcome of apple cultivar susceptibility, season peculiarities, growing practices, harvest maturity and postharvest storage conditions (Lotze and Theron, 2007, Glen and Poovaiah, 1990, Hyde and Vartih, 2001, Jonston et al. 2002, Pham et al., 2007, Sams, 1990). Some of the preharvest factors have been singled out and assessed as potential risk sources: variety local sensitiveness, maturity at harvesting, color distribution, fruit size, nutrient content, orchard temperature ranges and soil moisture. Also, prevailing preharvest conditioning treatments were reviewed (Kupferman, 2000). This study is aiming to describe quality fruit decay and physiological disorders involved in this process, and size up specific damages naturally induced on Jonathan cultivar under common postharvest temperature controlled storage. MATERIAL AND METHODS Open field experiments have been set up in Jonathan cv orchard at RIFG Maracineni-Pitesti, Romania, over 2003–2006 seasons. All the experiments were organized on 2 plots as follows: V1 – reference plot, without foliar or fruit treatment before and after harvesting and storage; V2 – treated plot with four foliar treatments over entire growing season with aqueous 0.5% solution of Frucol, a commercial product tested