FRUIT PLACEMENT ON THE TREE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON MATURITY AND QUALITY OF PEARS

Field yield (fruit number) and commercial yield (commercial weight and culling) for pears cv Bartlett (Williams) trained on trellising on the N-S orientation were evaluated.
Fruit maturity was tested through traditional means, such as size, firmness, soluble solids, and acidity; and a non-traditional one, evaluating texture by means of sound (tonimeter). Considering fruit spatial placement, northern areas yielded more fruits and more culling.
On the other hand, lower and southern parts yielded more commercial fruits.
These considerations were valid for any harvest date and season.
Sun damage was greater on northern and upper areas.
Size was greater for the upper parts of the trees, and smaller for lower and southern parts.
Firmness by tonimeter or penetrometer, soluble solids and quality index (SS/A) showed no definite trend.
When kept in cold storage, fruits showed the same patterns, independently of storage period.
Regarding fruit size in Patagonian Valleys for cv.
Bartlett, these results show successful harvests beginning by the upper parts of the trees.

VII International Symposium on Pear Growing

C. Benítez, E. Insúa, F. Duprat, M. Grotte

orientation, production, quality, harvest

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.475.64