Harvest Date Effects on Maturity, Quality, and Storage Disorders of `Honeycrisp' Apples

Abstract

<jats:p>`Honeycrisp' is a new apple [<jats:italic>Malus sylvestris</jats:italic> (L.) Mill. var. <jats:italic>domestica</jats:italic> (Borkh.) Mansf.] cultivar that has been planted extensively in North America, but the storage disorders soggy breakdown and soft scald have resulted in major fruit losses. The effects of harvest date and storage temperature on fruit quality and susceptibility of fruit to these disorders have been investigated in Michigan, New York, and Maine. Internal ethylene concentrations were variable over a wide range of harvest dates, and a rapid increase in autocatalytic ethylene production was not always apparent. The starch pattern index, soluble solids content, titratable acidity and firmness also appear to have limited use as harvest indices. Development of soggy breakdown and soft scald is associated with later harvest dates and storage of fruit at temperatures of 0 to 0.5 °C compared with higher storage temperatures. It is recommended that `Honeycrisp' be stored at 3 °C, although storage disorders still can occur at this temperature if fruit are harvested late. In addition, greasiness development may be worse at higher storage temperatures.</jats:p>

Assessing Preharvest Field Temperature and At-harvest Fruit Quality for Prediction of Soft Scald Risk of ‘Honeycrisp’ Apple Fruit during Cold Storage

“…When the true-positive value is low, false negatives are more likely to occur: the quality parameter may be below the threshold level, indicating that the fruit is at lower risk for developing soft scald, but it does develop the disorder at some point in storage. Numerous studies have researched the relationship among 'Honeycrisp' soft scald and soggy breakdown and a wide range of preharvest and postharvest parameters (DeLong et al, 2004;Moran et al, 2009Moran et al, , 2010Robinson and Lopez, 2009;Watkins et al, 2005). This study aimed to assess atharvest temperature data or quality metrics as predictors of soft scald via ROC analyses.…”

“…The variation of susceptibility to soft scald among orchards has been partially attributed to preharvest factors, including climatic conditions during fruit growth (Lachapelle et al, 2013;Moran et al, 2009), orchard location and fruit mineral element concentration (Tong et al, 2003), preharvest plant growth regulators treatments, such as 1-methylcyclopropene (DeEll and Ehsani-Moghaddam, 2010), and fruit maturity at the time of harvest (Tong et al, 2003;Watkins et al, 2003). The information regarding these treatments or field conditions is neither controlled by nor neces-sarily available to storage and packing sheds when fruit are received.…”

“…Quality and maturity metrics vary greatly at the time of harvest. Although these quality and maturity measurements tend to follow a predictable progression in storage [i.e., the gradual decrease in fruit firmness and TA (Jan et al, 2012)], the ratio of one metric to another is not always consistent among fruit harvests (Watkins et al, 2005). Quality and maturity measurements also indicate important physiological processes in the fruit, including maturity, ripening, and senescence, which have demonstrated relationships with soft scald/soggy breakdown .…”

Storability in Cold Temperatures Can Be Evaluated Based on Changes in Fruit Quality in Apple Genotypes Under Shelf Life Conditions

“…Incidence of physiological disorders such as low-temperature breakdown, soft scald, and soggy breakdown, which are thought to be developed especially during cold storage, could also limit storage potential and some cultivars are reported to be susceptible to these disorders (Autio et al, 1986;Johnson and Ridout, 1998;Tong et al, 2003;Watkins et al, 2005). Therefore, it would be better to investigate the incidence of these disorders during cold storage if there are enough fruit for the long-term storage test.…”

Using mixed-effects models to estimate the effect of harvest date and its interactions with post-harvest storage regime on apple fruit firmness

“…Commercial harvest maturity in 'Honeycrisp' apple has been associated with different starch indices in different growing regions. 'Honeycrisp' fruit exhibited little or no autocatalytic ethylene production (Watkins et al, 2005). Change in background colour was therefore one of the major factors used to decide when to start harvesting fruit of this cultivar.…”