SCIENCE WAS EIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 117, 13 November 1929, Page 20

SCIENCE WAS EIGHT

lODINE TEST FOR APPLES

*" la Western Australia a method is used for determining the stage .of maturity which an apple has reached, and this is a useful means of ascertaining when particular samples of fruit are likely to contract bitter pit on storage. /The test in question is dependent on the. use of iodine and on its effect on the starch content of the cut apples. . An interesting example of the value of the method hus_ arisen as the result of a recent occurrence. An officer of the West Australian Department of Agriculture was called into consultation by the inspecting' officers concerned,:;, iii. connection with ari early shipment of apples from Western Australia.'.; After testing- the fruit by the iodine method, he pronounced it. as immature and liable to excessive development.of pit during the storage period ; .nficessary for its export to England.- Jfpr.this reason, he was of the opinion that it should not be exported, and in consequence, a very considerable proportion of the proposed shlpjiipnt was not sent. At. the time, the ■wisdoni of this decision was seriously5 questioned by the owners of the fruit and their agent* particularly in its' application to the variety Cox's OrangePippin. The fruit of this variety, which is an early maturing one, was considered by the .agents -to be ripe; enough for export. I Some growers were so convinced that the decision .was wrong, that they placed a number of the rejected cases in cold storage and arranged that officers of the Department should see them opened at the time when the vessel that was to have taken them arrived in London. This was done, the fruit being taken out of cold store and examined early in April in the presence of the Superintendent of Horticulture and the agents concerned. The result showed the need for the rejection, as the fruit opened up in a very; badly pitted, condition. In a subsequent examination of some fases of this fruit over 90 per cent, of tlie larger sized apples were affected, and while the condition was not quite so evident, in. the smaller apples it nevertheless existed to the extent of over 70 per cent, in the smaller sizes.