| Summary: | In order to reduce the percentage of fruit cracking and increase size and weight of cape gooseberry fruits, the effect of carboxylic acids contained in the product Carboxy® Calhard (poly-hydroxy-carboxylic acids [78 g∙L-1], complemented with calcium and boron), was studied in a commercial crop. Product doses of 0, 1.5 and 3.0 L∙ha-1 and three levels of soil humidity: 10-25%, 25-50% and 50-75%, were used. The treatments 0, 1.5 and 3.0 L∙ha-1 of Calhard at 50-75% of soil humidity resulted in a higher percentage of exportable fruits, 40.17, 41.67 and 45.33% respectively, as well as the lowest number of fruits for the national market (31.33, 29.67 and 37.0%, respectively) due to the high soil humidity. The treatments 0 and 1,5 L∙ha-1 Calhard at 50-75% of soil humidity showed the highest percentage of cracked fruits, 28.50 and 28.67% respectively, whereas 3 L∙ha-1 of Calhard at 50-75% soil humidity reduced significantly the percentage of cracked fruits to 17.67% due to application of carboxylic acids. Fresh fruit weight without calyx was related to the product dose and soil humidity, showing the treatment 3.0 L∙ha-1 of Calhard at 50-75% of soil humidity as the one with the highest fresh fruit weight (4.04 g) compared to the control (3.58 g). Calhard application of 1.5 and 3.0 L∙ha-1 increased the equatorial diameter of fruits with values of 18.56 and 18.95 mm respectively, while 0 L∙ha-1 Calhard and the control showed the less fruit diameter values (18.39 mm).
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