Effects of Machine-Harvest Interval on Fruit Quality of Fresh Market Northern Highbush Blueberry

Yixin Cai,Brian Foote,Fumiomi Takeda,Lisa Wasko Devetter

doi:10.3390/horticulturae7080245

Yixin Cai, Brian Foote + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/horticulturae7080245

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Abstract

Machine harvesting blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) alleviates labor costs and shortages but can reduce fruit quality. Installation of softer catching surfaces inside modified over-the-row harvesters (modified OTR) and adjusting harvest intervals may improve fruit quality and packout. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of harvest interval on fruit quality of fresh market northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) harvested using a modified OTR. ‘Liberty’ blueberry bushes were harvested by hand or using a modified OTR at 3-, 10-, and 14-day intervals in 2019 and at 7-, 11-, and 14-day intervals in 2020. Hand-harvested ‘Liberty’ had greater packout and firmness than machine-harvested fruit. Machine harvesting at the 3-day interval in 2019, and the 14-day interval in 2020 reduced packout from 70–80% to 60% and 54%, respectively. In 2019, machine harvesting at a 3-day interval overall resulted in fruit with greater firmness, higher titratable acidity (TA), and lower total soluble solids (TSS) and SS/TA, compared to other harvest intervals. In 2020, the 7-day machine-harvest interval had a greater TA and lower TSS/TA, compared to the 11- and 14-day intervals. Overall, modified OTR machine-harvest intervals can be extended to 10–11 days for fresh market northern highbush cultivars such as ‘Liberty’ grown in northwest Washington.

Highlights

This study demonstrated machine harvesting of ‘Liberty’ Northern highbush (NH) blueberry using modified OTR technologies for the fresh market is feasible and chemical variables of fruit quality are more influenced by harvest timing than harvest method
The overall fresh market quality of machine-harvested fruits was still lower than hand-harvested fruits due to reduced firmness
Machine harvesting at a 3-day interval resulted in fruits with greater firmness, it has tradeoffs in terms of sweetness and packout

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Washington is a top blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) producing state in the United States (US) with a total of 76,000 metric tonnes produced in 2020 amounting to 10% of the utilized production for fresh market [1]. L.) are the foundation of the fresh market segment and are traditionally harvested by hand to maintain high quality and postharvest longevity [2]. More growers are switching to machine harvesting with conventional over-the-row (OTR) harvesters for fresh markets due to high labor costs and worker shortages [3,4,5]. Research conducted in the 1990s in Michigan, US, using the V45 blueberry harvester (BEI; South Heaven, MI, USA)

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