number of well-rooted shoots (Table 22).Fruit growers in Nagano are now looking for high
quality nursery trees to improve precocity.Nurserymen also recognize that the nursery tree must
have at least five lateral branches (feathers) with medium length and wide angles.Two-year-old
knip trees which are usually used in Europe (Nicolai, 1993) are also now recommended for
planting in new orchards.The studies on the pruning of 1-year-old whip Fuji trees carried out in
Nagano Experiment Station show that optimum size branches with wide angles can be obtained
by heading the leaders at 60 cm above ground and thinning shoots leaving only one shoot from
just below the heading cut.

REFERENCES
Nicolai, Johan.1993.European techniques to enhance nursery stock performance and generate
early production.Compact News (IDFTA) April 1993 (2):7-9.
Ogata, K., H. Kikuchi, T. Hatayama and H. Komatsu.1986.Growth and productivity of
vigorous ‘Fuji’apple trees on M.26 as affected by summer pruning.Acta Horticulturae
160:157-165.

Table 1.A list of main fruit types imported into Japan in 1996 and 1997.

1997
(t)

1996
(t)

Fruits

Imported from

Banana
Pineapple
Citrus
Mango
Avocado
Grape
Papaya
Kiwifruit
Cherry
Apple
Others
Total

822,294
88,483
512,077
8,361
5,592
6,620
4,655
38,301
12,467
131
9,190
1,508,171

760,111
89,561
481,893
9,375
6,092
6,069
5,526
45,271
11,309
710
6,200
1,422,118

Philippines, Ecuador
Philippines
USA
Philippines, Mexico
Mexico, USA
Chile, USA
USA
New Zealand
USA, New Zealand
USA, New Zealand

Table 2.Difference in fruit quality of the new apple cultivar Shinano Gold (NA-15) depends on
the site and elevation in Nagano (Nagano Fruit Tree Experiment Station).

Av. fruit
weight
(g)

Titratable
acidity
(%)

Elevation
(m)

Firmness
(lb)

Starch
indexy

Maturity
indexz

Site

Brix

Suzaka
Nagato
Suwa

360
630
760

358
330
336

16.0
14.7
14.6

0.49
0.56
0.49

14.1
13.5
13.7

4.0
3.8
4.0

4.0
3.8
3.8

zIndex of ripeness (5, over-ripe; 4, fully ripe; 3, optimally ripe; 2, little ripe; 1, not ripe).
yIndex of starch test (1, none; 5, stained the most).

Table 3.Comparison of climate (10-year average) between Nagano, Japan, and Wenatchee, WA,
USA.

Site

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

Jun.

Jul.

Aug.

Sep.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Mean temperature (ºC)

Nagano
Wenatchee

-1.4
-2.2

-0.8
-1.8

2.9
5.8

9.9
10.8

15.5
15.6

19.8
19.6

23.2
23.1

24.9
22.4

19.5
17.6

12.7
10.5

6.7
3.8

1.4
-0.3

Precipitation (mm)

Nagano
Wenatchee

40
34

51
20

60
16

42
16

76
15

91
14

102
4

83
18

107
8

75
15

37
29

36
36

Table 4.A grading example of Fuji apples using automatic sorting equipped with the optical
instruments such as near infrared analyzers. About 23 cooperative packing houses (total of 162)
have introduced this sorting system by 1997.

Date of sorting
Nov. 20-27

Grade of brix (soluble solids)z

Nov. 8-14

Dec. 3-10

Excellent (Brix <15%)
Gourmet (Brix 13-15%)
Non-brand (Brix 13%<)

68%
29
3

68
27
5

81
16
2

zData measured at a JA cooperative packing house in Nagano.

Table 5.Fruit quality and shelf life of Akibae and Senshu apples in Nagano (Nagano
Agricultural Research Center).

Harvest
date

Firmness
(lb)

Brix
(%)

Titratable
acidity (%)

Taste
scorew

Cultivar

Sep. 29z14.415.80.48
AkibaeOct. 1y15.815.60.42
Oct. 5x15.515.60.38
....................................................................................................................
Sep. 2913.814.10.43
SenshuOct. 112.612.60.38
Oct. 513.913.90.45

5.0
4.5
3.5

5.0
4.5
3.5

zDate of harvest and fruit quality measurement.
yDate of measuring the quality of fruits kept 3 days under room condition.
xDate of measuring the quality of fruits kept 7 days under room condition.
wScores of taste (5, excellent; 1, very poor).

Table 6.Fruit quality of the new apple cultivar Shinano Sweet (NA-10) in Nagano (Nagano
Fruit Tree Experiment Station).

Date of
harvest
(Oct.)

Av. fruit
weight
(g)

Titratable
acidity
(%)

Elevation
(m)

Colorz
(%)

Brix
(%)

Firmness
(lb)

Maturity
scorey

Site

Suzaka
Matsukawa
Azusagawa
Omi

360
680
700
900

1
4
8
15

332
310
425
371

80
70
71
66

15.9
14.8
15.5
13.9

0.37
0.32
0.35
0.37

13.9
14.9
14.1
14.4

3.2
3.0
3.3
3.8

z% of red color per fruit surface.
yIndex of ripeness (5, over-ripe; 4, fully ripe; 3, optimally ripe; 2, little ripe; 1, not ripe).

Table 7.Fruit quality of Shinano Red (NA-12) apples in Suzaka, Nagano (Nagano Fruit Tree
Experiment Station).

Date of
harvest
(Aug.)

Av. fruit
weight
(g)

Titratable
acidity
(%)

Colory
(%)

Brix
(%)

Firmness
(lb)

Year

1993
1994
1995
1996
1997

23 (103)z
12 (101)
21 (110)
26 (107)
17 (106)

196
249
246
221
237

95
70
82
93
88

12.8
14.5
12.5
12.1
12.5

0.47
0.42
0.33
0.39
0.35

14.4
15.7
14.7
14.8
15.6

zDays after full bloom in parentheses.
yRed color percent per fruit surface.

Table 8.Fruit quality of Shinano Gold (NA-15) apples in Suzaka, Nagano (Nagano Fruit Tree
Experiment Station).

Date of
harvest
(Oct.)

Av. fruit
weight
(g)

Titratable
acidity
(%)

Brix
(%)

Firmness
(lb)

Starch
indexy

Maturity
indexx

2 (153)z
8 (157)
20 (171)

276
288
283

14.8
15.6
16.2

0.48
0.52
0.55

15.8
15.0
15.0

2.1
3.0
4.0

2.1
3.0
4.0

zDays after full bloom in parentheses.
yIndex of starch test (1, none; 5, stained the most by iodine solution).
xIndex of ripeness (5, over-ripe; 4, fully ripe; 3, optimally ripe; 2, little ripe; 1, not ripe).