Abstract
Most fruits and vegetables go through three development stages: maturation, ripening and senescence. At the beginning of the ripening stage many fruits exhibit the climacteric i.e. a dramatic peak in their respiration rate, which is also accompanied by a profound change in the mechanical structure and biochemical composition of the fruit. For these fruits the optimal harvest time is just before the climacteric. This paper reports a study on tomatoes and kiwifruit, wherein it may be possible to detect the climacteric stage by periodic measurements with a non-destructive firmness tester, named PFT (Peleg Firmness Tester), developed by the first author. Although direct corroboration by respiration rate measurements versus climacteric detection by the new method has not yet been performed, it was found that a distinct dip in the PFT readings coincides with the transition of mature-green tomatoes from green to pink, which is when the climacteric usually occurs.
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