Articles
Controlling for maturity reveals the direct impact of canopy position on internal fruit quality in peach
Article number
1346_102
Pages
799 – 806
Language
English
Abstract
Several preharvest factors such as crop load management, cultivar selection and canopy position influence peach internal fruit quality.
The fruits position in the canopy and its subsequent quality is heavily influenced by light availability.
However, increased light availability can also advance maturation.
This leads to impacts on quality, as increased maturation enhances quality attributes such as overcolor, soluble solids concentration (SSC), and dry matter content (DMC). An experiment was conducted to evaluate internal fruit quality and maturity at three canopy positions (0.3-1.2, 1.3-2.0, 2.1-3.0 m) across two peach cultivars of different vigor and ripening time: Sierra Rich (SR, low vigor, early-ripening) and Cresthaven (CH, high vigor, late-ripening). All fruit in each position were scanned non-destructively using visual to near-infrared spectroscopy (Vis-NIRS) prior to harvest to assess the impact of position on maturity (index of absorbance difference, IAD) and quality (DMC). Equal ranges of IAD fruits were then assessed to evaluate the impact of canopy position on peach fruit quality without maturations confounding influence.
Prior to maturity control, the difference in DMC (ΔDMC) from the bottom to the top was 1.5 and 2.0% in SR and CH, respectively.
When sampling a separate population of fruit of uniform maturity, ΔDMC was reduced in SR to 0.7%, while it remained high in CH at 2.1%. The higher vigor cultivar, CH, was characterized by non-uniform light distribution.
The limited levels of light reaching the bottom of the canopy may have contributed to inferior fruit quality, even with maturity control.
In SR, the reduced vigor facilitated sufficient levels of light across the entire canopy.
This led to uniform quality from top to bottom when maturity was controlled.
This study underscores the importance of controlling for maturity in pomological experiments and highlights the role of canopy uniformity in promoting uniform fruit quality.
The fruits position in the canopy and its subsequent quality is heavily influenced by light availability.
However, increased light availability can also advance maturation.
This leads to impacts on quality, as increased maturation enhances quality attributes such as overcolor, soluble solids concentration (SSC), and dry matter content (DMC). An experiment was conducted to evaluate internal fruit quality and maturity at three canopy positions (0.3-1.2, 1.3-2.0, 2.1-3.0 m) across two peach cultivars of different vigor and ripening time: Sierra Rich (SR, low vigor, early-ripening) and Cresthaven (CH, high vigor, late-ripening). All fruit in each position were scanned non-destructively using visual to near-infrared spectroscopy (Vis-NIRS) prior to harvest to assess the impact of position on maturity (index of absorbance difference, IAD) and quality (DMC). Equal ranges of IAD fruits were then assessed to evaluate the impact of canopy position on peach fruit quality without maturations confounding influence.
Prior to maturity control, the difference in DMC (ΔDMC) from the bottom to the top was 1.5 and 2.0% in SR and CH, respectively.
When sampling a separate population of fruit of uniform maturity, ΔDMC was reduced in SR to 0.7%, while it remained high in CH at 2.1%. The higher vigor cultivar, CH, was characterized by non-uniform light distribution.
The limited levels of light reaching the bottom of the canopy may have contributed to inferior fruit quality, even with maturity control.
In SR, the reduced vigor facilitated sufficient levels of light across the entire canopy.
This led to uniform quality from top to bottom when maturity was controlled.
This study underscores the importance of controlling for maturity in pomological experiments and highlights the role of canopy uniformity in promoting uniform fruit quality.
Publication
Authors
B.M. Anthony, D.G. Sterle, J.M. Chaparro, J.E. Prenni, I.S. Minas
Keywords
Prunus persica, near-infrared spectroscopy, non-destructive, light distribution, dry matter content
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