''Niitaka'' (Pyrus pyriforia) has been the major cultivar of the Asian pear since the 1970s, and yielded about 70% of pear production in South Korea in 2002. When Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) is earlier than the fruit maturation period, farmers seek to advance the harvesting date to keep pace with the increase in consumer demand caused by the holiday. However, unripened fruit is of suboptimal marketable value because the flesh has a low soluble solid content, the fruit color is not attractive, and stone volume is high. Compost treatment can enhance soil microbial activity and affect soil chemistry, which may accelerate fruit maturation and allow an earlier harvesting date. Therefore, we examined the effect of 2 years of compost application on the fruit quality of Asian pear trees grown under conventional management conditions. The Hunter