Effect of harvest maturity on decay and post-harvest life of ‘d'Anjou’ pear

Abstract

‘D'Anjou’ pear fruits ( Pyrus communis L.) were harvested at 3 times, 24 August, 8 September (commercial harvest date) and 30 September 1982. Late-harvested over-mature fruits were more susceptible to storage decay than immature and optimum-mature fruits. Mucor piriformis caused the highest storage decay, Botrytis cinerea the second and Penicillium expansum the least. Fruits continued to increase in size during the harvesting period, but fruits harvested at the optimum maturity contained the highest percentage of suitable sizes (i.e. between 80 and 120 fruits per 20-kg box) for marketing. Flesh firmness of fruits decreased during the harvesting period and in storage. Immature fruits always had the highest values of flesh firmness, optimum-mature fruits had the next and over-mature fruits the lowest at each corresponding sampling period during storage. Optimum-mature and over-mature fruits developed acceptable flesh texture, juiciness, and flavor upon ripening until February. Immature fruits were incapable of developing acceptable flavor upon ripening throughout the storage period. Superficial scald began to develop on the ripened fruits when taken from storage in December, and increased thereafter. Immature fruits showed a very high incidence of scald (98%) as compared to optimum-mature fruits (37%), while over-mature fruits were free from scald in December. All fruits, regardless of maturity, developed scald symptoms after February. The study suggested that ‘d'Anjou’ fruits should be harvested quickly when fruits reached the optimum maturity in order to reduce the susceptibility to decay, to gain optimum fruit sizes, and to ripen with an acceptable quality after storage.