Abstract
Phenotypic characterization of postharvest traits is essential for the breeding of high-quality fruits. To compare postharvest traits of different genetic lines, it is essential to use a reference point during fruit development that will be common to all the lines. In this study, we employed a non-destructive parameter of chlorophyll levels to establish a similar physiological age and compared several postharvest traits of ten astringent and seven non-astringent persimmon cultivars. The fruit’s traits examined were astringency, weight, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), chlorophyll levels (IAD), color (hue), firmness, color development and firmness loss during storage, crack development, and susceptibility to Alternaria infection. Although the chlorophyll (IAD) index and color (hue) showed a high correlation among mature fruits of all cultivars, the chlorophyll parameter could detect higher variability in each cultivar, suggesting that IAD is a more rigorous parameter for detecting the developmental stage. The average weight, TSS, and TA were similar between astringent and non-astringent cultivars. Cracks appeared only on a few cultivars at harvest. Resistance to Alternaria infection and firmness were lower in astringent than in non-astringent cultivars. Only the astringent cultivar “32” was resistant to infection possibly due to the existence of an efficient peel barrier. It was concluded that a high correlation existed between astringency, susceptibility to Alternaria infection, and firmness. Cracks did not correlate with astringency or firmness. The phenotypic traits evaluated in this work can be used in future breeding programs for elite persimmon fruits.
Highlights
Persimmon fruits are berries of deciduous trees
Measurements were taken from 10 fruits of each cultivar; each fruit was measured at 4 places (2 from the peduncle side and 2 from the style side) and the average IAD was presented
No significant differences were observed between the group of astringent and non-astringent cultivars for IAD and hue in both years (Student t-test; p ≤ 0.05; Supplementary Table 2)
Summary
Persimmon fruits are berries of deciduous trees. Cultivated persimmons (Diospyros kaki) are classified into four groups, based on the flesh color affected by pollination, and on the astringency loss pattern. Cracks on fruit surfaces can hinder the commercialization of fruit like apple (Ginzberg and Stern, 2019), pomegranate (Davarpanah et al, 2018), and cherry (Winkler and Knoche, 2019) They can reduce persimmon quality and most of the Japanese persimmon cultivars including “Shinshu” (Yamada and Sato, 2003), and the cultivar “Triumph” suffers from cracking (Biton et al, 2014). This work focused on the characterization of postharvest qualities of firm fruits of the different persimmon cultivars since firm fruits are desirable in commerce It established the use of non-destructive chlorophyll determination to determine the harvest time. Using similar parameters of chlorophyll levels for all the cultivars provided a reference point that enabled the comparison of other traits like astringency, weight, TSS, TA, crack development, firmness, firmness loss, and color development during storage, as well as Alternaria susceptibility
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