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Keywords

peaches, nectarines, postharvest

Abstract

Since peaches and nectarines are a valued fresh-market crop worldwide, evaluating postharvest potential helps determine feasibility for commercial markets. The ripeness attributes of 10 peach and nectarine genotypes were evaluated at harvest (day 0) and after 7 and 14 d storage at 4° C. The fruit was hand harvested at tree ripeness (ripened on the tree) and commercial ripeness (ripened during storage). The attributes of the tree-ripened fruit and commercially-ripened fruit varied at harvest and included chlorophyll (0.04-0.86 abs), peach weight (132-264 g), soluble solids (7.23-12.57%), pH (3.18-4.66), titratable acidity (0.16-1.21%), and flesh firmness (6.92-35.72 N). In general, tree-ripened fruit had higher fruit weight, soluble solids, and pH and lower chlorophyll, titratable acidity, and firmness than commercially-ripened fruit at harvest. For the tree-ripened fruit, A-811 CN was the largest (247.67 g), A-794 CN had the highest soluble solids (12.57%) and titratable acidity (0.88%), ‘Souvenirs’ (6.92 N) had the lowest firmness, and ‘Amoore Sweet’ (18.28 N) was the firmest. During storage of commercially-ripened fruit, chlorophyll and fruit weight decreased, while soluble solids increased, but there were no changes in pH or titratable acidity. During storage, A-885 (0.35 abs) had the lowest chlorophyll and ‘Effie’ had the largest fruit (203.11 g) and highest soluble solids (12.02%). Some ripeness attributes of the commercially-ripened fruit, such as chlorophyll and weight, were not achieved as compared to the tree-ripened fruit. The results of this study provide insight on the potential for releasing new peach and nectarine genotypes from the University of Arkansas Fruit Breeding Program.

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