Growth, maturation and ripening of breadfruit, Artocarpus altilis (Park.) Fosb.

Abstract

Fruit growth of a seedless, `white flesh' cultivar of breadfruit [ Artocarpus altilis (Park.) Fosb.] was single sigmoidal as measured by diameter, but double sigmoidal when assessed as dry or fresh weight. The first phase of growth was characterised by size generation while the second phase involved major increase in dry weight, mainly in the form of starch accumulation. The fruit required 13–21 weeks to reach full size from the time when the female inflorescence was first detectable in the terminal leaf sheath though sensory tests of cooked fruit revealed that only fruit 15–19 weeks old was acceptable. This age range coincided with maturity indices such as the appearance of white latex on the fruit skin and flattening of the fruit segments and the spur at the centre of these. Skin colour could not be reliably used as a maturity index. Mature fruit produced a monophasic respiratory climacteric, with CO 2 production reaching 200 ml kg −1 h −1 at 25–30°C. In contrast, peak ethylene production was low (1.5 μl kg −1 h −1 ). The respiratory climacteric of fruit harvested at the earliest maturity (13-to-15-week-old fruit) tended to be higher and later than that of fully mature (19-to-21-week-old) fruit.