Published statistics on the spatial variation of fruit quality observed in orchards has been rudimentary to date. Dry matter and fruit weight data were collected spatially within 11 kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa ‘Hayward’) orchards in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, to characterize the variability in fruit quality in terms of nonspatial and spatial statistics. Fruit weight was statistically more variable and exhibited a stronger spatial structure than the dry matter data. Individual variograms were derived for each orchard and then all the data were collated into average variograms for both quality attributes. The average variogram parameters were used to determine the optimum spacing for grid sampling to achieve a desired level of confidence when interpolating the data. A grid spacing of 28 m appears suitable for mapping fruit quality, provided sufficient area exists to collect enough points to perform block kriging. Plots of individual orchard and average variograms, and a table of nonspatial and variogram statistics are presented as a reference for future work in this area.
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