The effect of delaying harvest date on fruit quality and storage of late highbush blueberry cultivars (Vaccinium corymbosum L.)

Lobos GA.; Callow, P; Hancock, JF

Abstract

The effect of delaying harvest on fruit quality and storage life was measured for the late-season highbush blueberry cultivars 'Aurora', 'Elliott' and 'Liberty'. In all three cultivars as fruit ripened, there was a steady decline in TA while SS remained stable, indicating that the fruit were becoming sweeter. This was supported by taste panel perceptions of greater sweetness associated with later harvested fruit. There was also a significant overall reduction in fruit firmness and storage life as the percentage of blue fruit at harvest increased; however, a significant interaction for storage life between crop ripeness and cultivar was observed, indicating that the fruit of some cultivars were less influenced by overall crop ripeness than others. The storage life of 'Elliott' was significantly affected negatively by crop ripeness, while 'Aurora' and 'Liberty' were not. 'Liberty' produced the highest percentage of sound fruit of the three cultivars and its fruit stored the longest, suggesting that 'Liberty' and 'Aurora' fruit can be left longer on the bush before harvesting than 'Elliott' without significantly damaging storage life. This would allow 'Aurora' to develop a sweeter flavor before shipping. The physicochemical and sensory evaluations were highly correlated, suggesting that TA, SS and firmness can be used as predictors of consumer preferences. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Más información

Título según WOS: The effect of delaying harvest date on fruit quality and storage of late highbush blueberry cultivars (Vaccinium corymbosum L.)
Título de la Revista: POSTHARVEST BIOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY
Volumen: 87
Editorial: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Fecha de publicación: 2014
Página de inicio: 133
Página final: 139
Idioma: English
URL: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0925521413002470
DOI:

10.1016/j.postharvbio.2013.08.001

Notas: ISI