The effects of topography and altitude on fruit characteristics in apple growing

This study was conducted in Doğanşehir and Akçadağ counties of Malatya Province at different altitudes. As part of the study, some pomological characteristics of fruit samples collected from apple trees of Starking Delicious cultivar grown at 1242, 1358, and 1418 m altitudes in Doğanşehir county and 805, 936, and 1069 m altitudes in Akçadağ county were investigated. As a result of the study, increases in fruit weight, volume, height, width, firmness and TSS values were observed in correlation with altitude increase in both of the counties. Decreases in pH values decreases were found in correlation with altitude increase in Doğanşehir, whereas increases in Akçadağ county. Inverse proportion was obtained in titratable acidity in accordance with the variation of pH values in the counties. Different results were obtained according to the topography and altitude in the counties. Highest and lowest fruit weight values were obtained in lower altitude field with 154.40 g and moderate altitude field with 140.02 g in Doğanşehir, and in high altitude field with 182.26 g and moderate altitude field with 171.03 g in Akçadağ, respectively. In terms of fruit height, highest value was obtained in higher altitude field with 62.03 mm and lowest value was obtained in moderate altitude field in Doğanşehir. Highest fruit height value was obtained in higher altitude field with 67.01 mm and lowest fruit height was obtained in low altitude field with 63.96 mm in Akçadağ. The highest fruit firmness values were obtained in high altitude fields in both Doğanşehir and Akçadağ with 6.98 kg/cm2 and 7.58 kg/cm2, respectively. The lowest fruit firmness value was obtained in low altitude field with 6.16 kg/cm2 in Doğanşehir, whereas in moderate altitude field with 7.08 kg/cm2 in Akçadağ. In Doğanşehir county, highest value was obtained in low altitude field (17.56 %), lowest value was obtained in low attitude field (6.16 %) for TSS. In Akçadağ county, the highest TSS value was obtained in high altitude field with 12.11 %, the lowest TSS value was obtained in low altitude field with 11.50 %. Variations in topography and altitude caused significant differences in the results obtained from the counties.