172 Changes in Quality and Maturity of Early Season Nectarines (cvs. Aurelio and Early May) during Maturation and Ripening

• Published in: HortScience Vol. 34; no. 3; pp. 471 - 472
• Main Authors: Luchsinger, L.E, Reginato, G.H, Miranda, P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.06.1999
• ISSN: 0018-5345; 2327-9834
• DOI: 10.21273/HORTSCI.34.3.471F

The objectives of this study were to characterize the quality and maturity changes of nectarine ( Prunus persica var. Nectarina) fruit cvs. Aurelio and Early May during maturation and ripening and to identify harvest maturity indices. After fruit set, 250 fruit of similar diameter and tree position were tagged to follow maturation and ripening on the tree. During commercial harvest, 48 fruit were ramdomly harvested every 2 to 3 days. Ethylene evolution rate (EER) at 20 °C, fresh weight, and peel ground and cover color (L * , a * , b * , C * and Hue value) were measured on all 48 fruit. Flesh color, firmness at several fruit points, soluble solids (SS), pH, titratable acidity (TA) and SS: TA ratio were measured only to 24 fruit, and the rest were held for up to 7 days at 20 °C as a ripening period to measure the same parameters mentioned above. Pearson correlation coefficients were determined between variables to explore possible harvest maturity indices. The most significant changes occurred in EER, fruit firmness, and peel ground color (a * and hue value). For `Aurelio' nectarines the highest correlations ( P < 0.001) were obtained between logEER-tip firmness ( r = -0.69), tip firmness-a * ground color ( r = -0.66) and, tip firmness-hue ground color ( r = -0.67). No important correlations ( r > 0.60) were found for `Early May' nectarines. It was also found that fruit softening varies according to the point of measurement in the fruit depending on the cultivar.