Internal Fruit Quality Research Articles

Evaluation of a hand‐held spectrophotometer as an in‐field phenotyping tool for tomato and pepper fruit quality

AbstractPhenotyping for vegetable fruit quality traits can involve laborious postharvest and biochemical assays, decreasing efficiency of data collection. Portable devices that are easy to use and withstand in‐field conditions to non‐destructively and accurately quantify internal fruit quality traits would greatly enhance efficiency in breeding programs. We evaluated a hand‐held quality spectrophotometer, the Felix‐750, as an in‐field tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and pepper (Capsicum annuum) high‐throughput phenotyping tool. Fruit quality traits included pH, soluble solids, carotenoids, and shrink in germplasm grown in replicated split‐plot field trials. Germplasm included elite inbred cultivars and introgression lines of tomato, and diverse hybrid and open‐pollinated cultivars of pepper. Our study employed a multi‐faceted approach to evaluate the use of the Felix‐750 in a plant breeding program. Our approach included chemometrics and trait‐based partial least squares regression modeling, and examination of patterns in the λ‐specific spectroscopy data based on variables relevant to genetic, fruit, and environmental factors using principal component analysis and biplots. Results of our study revealed: (a) the scope and limitations of the Felix‐750 in fruit quality trait assessment based on the range of predictive power of partial least squares models; (b) insights into the complex relationships of spectroscopy data with genetic diversity, fruit biology and biochemistry, and factors related to environment. Additional research on the Felix‐750 is needed to determine its potential applications at early and later stages of a breeding pipeline. We also suggest researchers explore more advanced chemometric tools and 3‐D fruit hyperspectral imaging approaches.

Sweet Cherry Skin Colour Measurement as an Non-Destructive Indicator of Fruit Maturity

Abstract Colour measurement is one of the methods used to evaluate food quality. Aim of completed research was the evaluation of a fast and non-destructive method which consisted of assessing colour changes. It was used to determine the ripeness of cherries during their harvest. Additionally, the most significant parameter determining fruit ripeness was identified. Colour measurements of the Burlat cherry on the PHL A rootstocks were supposed to provide standards for practical evaluation of fruit ripeness of this species at an orchard. During the research, the measurements concerned the internal quality of the cherry fruit (firmness, extract content) and the force required to tear off the stem, depending on the size of the fruit. The extract appeared to be the most important indicator to be used for the determination of an optimum harvesting period. It was most prominently correlated with the cherry’s colour. Changes in the skin colour were the most reflected by the value of the parameter CIE a*. The coordinates CIE L* and b* are also important for the determination of fruit quality. Burlat cherries achieve their optimum harvesting ripeness if the coordinate a* is within the range 30.0 to 0.0, the coordinate b* within 10.0 to 0.0 and the coordinate L* within 30.0 to 20.0, which corresponds to the extract value of 12-20%.

Effect of Plastic Film Mulching on Fruit Quality of Citrus grandis cv. ‘Hongroumiyou’ and ‘Sanhongmiyou’

Plastic film mulching (PFM) around fruit trees could effectively improve fruit quality by promoting fruit coloration and sugar accumulation. ‘Hongroumiyou’ and ‘Sanhongmiyou’ are mutated from Citrus grandis cv. ‘Guanximiyou’ possessing attractive appearance, rich nutritional ingredients. When they are introduced into Sichuan Province, the fruits revealed lower sugar accumulation and higher acid content than that in Fujian Province. We compared the fruit quality by mulching at 55, 85, 115, 145, 175 days after flowering. The results showed that mulch treatment had no significant effect on the external quality of ‘Hongroumiyou’ and ‘Sanhongmiyou’. While it could effectively improve the internal fruit quality, including promotion of total soluble solid and vitamin C, and decrease of total acid. The best effect on the improvement of fruit quality was mulched at 115 days after flowering for ‘Hongroumiyou’ and 145 days after flowering for ‘Sanhongmiyou’. In addition, mulching cultivation also avoided tree death resulted from the rootrot atrophy because of a long-term flooding. It is important to promote film mulching cultivation in the pummelo production in Sichuan Province.

Genetic analysis of fruit quality traits in prebred lines of watermelon derived from a wild accession of Citrullus amarus

Citron (Citrullus amarus) is a watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) relative that is reported to carry disease resistance alleles to several important pathogens. It is therefore important to understand the inheritance of fruit quality traits while using this species to introgress resistance traits. Hence, the current experiment was carried out to determine the inheritance of important external and internal fruit quality traits in prebred lines derived from C. amarus and confirm the role of candidate genes for quality traits in these genotypes. The study comprised of two backcross inbred lines viz, BIL-53 and BIL-99 as female parents crossed to IIHR-140-152, an icebox type elite inbred line as a common pollen parent for developing F1, F2, BC1 and BC2 generations to study genetics of fruit shape, flesh color, rind pattern, total soluble solids (TSS), and seed color. Results suggested that the genetics of most of these fruit quality traits are governed by one or two genes suggesting simple inheritance. Sequencing of candidate gene, Cla011257 confirmed its involvement for fruit shape in this species and also revealed a novel allele with two SNPs resulting in oblong fruit shape. Similarly, the flesh color candidate gene, LCYB was involved in variation between canary yellow and red flesh colors but was found to be not involved in salmon yellow color observed in progenies derived from this species. Overall, our results suggest that breeders can use C. amarus as a source of resistance in breeding programs without linkage drag of alleles detrimental for fruit quality traits.

Starch-based edible coating formulation: Optimization and its application to improve the postharvest quality of “Cripps pink” apple under different temperature regimes

This study demonstrated Response Surface Methodology (RSM) optimisation of starch edible coating formulation and its application on apple fruit quality and storage life at two different temperatures (20 °C and 5 °C + 1 day at 20 °C). Films were optimised for physical, mechanical and permeability properties and the optimal formulation was sprayed over the fruit surface. Fruit weight loss, respiration rate, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), firmness, greasiness and change in the fruit skin colour were measured. The effect of the coating treatment on changes to the bioactive profile (phenolics and free radical scavenging activity) of the fruit was also analysed. The results obtained from this study showed that the optimised formulation (rice starch 2.5% ι-car 1.5% sucrose fatty acid ester 2% glycerol 1.5%) in combination with low temperature was effective in reducing weight loss and maintained tissue firmness without affecting TSS, TA and the bioactive profile of the apple fruit during postharvest storage. A delay in skin colour change and a significant reduction in fruit greasiness was observed in coated fruit (p < 0.05). These results show the potential of starch-based coating formulation in the formulation in improving the visual appearance, without affecting the fruit internal quality and nutritional properties of apple fruit during storage.

Effect of On-Tree Storage on Fruit Quality of Three Pummelo (Citrus grandis Osbeck) Cultivars

In this study, to provide basis for postharvest storage, the effect of on-tree and indoor storage on fruit quality of three pummelo (Citrus grandis Osbeck) cultivars was evaluated. We compared the fruit quality by these two storage methods. For external fruit quality, peel thickness decreased significantly with the increase of indoor storage times. The granulation index of on-tree fruits reached the maximum value of 0.63 in ‘Hungjinmiyou’ for 90 days. After 90 days for on-tree storage, three pummelo cultivars started to reveal storage taste. The remaining index such as weight per fruit, fruit shape index, segment and edible rate revealed no obvious change trends between on-tree and indoor storage methods. There were no obvious change trends in the content of total soluble solid, reaching the maximum value of 11.12%, 10.87%, and 11.17% for 60 or 90 days for on-tree storage. While for indoor storage, TSS content revealed a decrease - rise - decrease trend. Vitamin C and sugar contents decreased with the increase of on-tree storage times. The flesh chromatism of on-tree fruits turned to light red in ‘Sanhongmiyou’ and ‘Hongroumiyou’, while it kept stable with orange- yellow in ‘Huangjinmiyou’. Taking external and internal fruit quality into consideration, it is better to store for 90 days on-tree and indoor for ‘Sanhongmiyou’ and ‘Hongroumiyou’, 60 days for ‘Huangjinmiyou’, respectively. By comparison, fruits on-tree storage showed better quality than that by indoor storage.

Effect of Bagging on Fruit Quality of Three Pummelo (Citrus grandis Osbeck) Cultivars

In this study, the effect of bagging on fruit quality of three pummelo (Citrus grandis Osbeck) cultivars was evaluated in order to provide basis for high-quality and high-efficient cultivation of pummelo cultivars. Seven bagging times was set at 35, 50, 65, 80, 95, 110, and 125 days after flowering (DAF). Different bagging treatments all effectively improved the external fruit quality, such as beautiful peel color and smooth oil vacuole. The weight per fruit, longitudinal and transverse diameter revealed decrease trends along with the delay of bagging times. In addition, bagging treatments somewhat decreased the content of internal quality, including total soluble solid, vitamin C and sugar, being significantly lower than that in control check. Taking the external and internal fruit quality into consideration, we determined the appropriate bagging times for three cultivars. The best bagging time was at 35, 80, and 65 days after flowering for ‘Sanhongmiyou’, ‘Hongroumiyou’ and ‘Huangjinmiyou’, respectively. It will provide effective basis for bagging treatments in the pummelo producing area.

Model development for soluble solids and lycopene contents of cherry tomato at different temperatures using near-infrared spectroscopy

The near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer is a powerful tool for rapid nondestructive testing of fruit, foodstuff and agricultural products in the laboratory. However, traditional NIR spectrometers are large and inconvenient to implement for online detection, and it is sensitive to external environmental factors such as temperature, which can affect products with high water content and decrease accuracy of measurements. A mixed temperature correction method and external parameter orthogonal (EPO) method combining portable NIR spectrometer, in terms of applicability, complexity and predictive performance of the algorithm, was used to reduce the effect of temperature changes on the NIR spectra of soluble solids and lycopene in cherry tomatoes. Of a total of 176 samples, 120 and 840 spectra for 120 samples were tested at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C. The remaining 56 samples were used to test the prediction effect of samples at different temperatures. The EPO method has better prediction results than the mixed temperature correction model, for external multi-temperature samples, the RP of the soluble solids content was 0.8988, and the RMSEP was 0.292%, the RP of the lycopene content was 0.8023 and the RMSEP was 7.45 mg/kg, indicating that the EPO method had a good correction effect for temperature. Moreover, fewer samples were required for modeling. A portable NIR spectrometer that was developed by the EPO method revealed no significant difference between the predicted value and the standard value of 15 external samples by t-test. Therefore, the EPO method can be used to reduce the effect of temperature on the NIR spectra of cherry tomatoes and is of great significance for the real-time online detection of the fruit by a portable NIR spectrometer, and it may be useful for online rapid detection of the internal quality of other fruit.

Effects of rain cover cultivation on ecophysiology-factors, yield and fruit quality in mango

The advantages of the rain cover cultivation over open field were evaluated in order to explore the mango efficient cultivation mode in the coastal rainy region of South China. The ‘Renong 1’ mango trees were treated with rain covers from first blooming until harvest. Meteorological variables such as temperature and relative humidity were determined, and the photosynthetic indexes, productivity and quality were also investigated. The results showed that rain covers tended to increase the temperature and decrease the relative humidity at flowering and fruit set phase, and resulted in a significantly higher bisexual flower rate. Rain covers promoted early fruit drop but the final fruit set rate was not significantly affected. In rain covers, the net photosynthetic rates (Pn) were not affected negatively whether at flowering and fruit set phase or at the fruit development phase. In comparison with open field, the mean yield of mango in rain cover increased by 60.2%, however the internal quality of fruits were not significantly affected by rain covers. In addition, rain covers significantly reduced the fruit decay and disease index of mango fruits after harvest. These results suggest that rain covers modified the microenvironment of the canopy in mango and promoted bisexual flower rate and yield of mango while they had no negative effects on the internal quality of fruits and improved the storability of mango fruit. Therefore, rain-shelter cultivation could be a promising practice for mango production in the rainy region of South.

REDUCING THE SALINITY IMPACT ON SOILLESS CULTURE OF TOMATOES USING SUPPLEMENTAL CA AND FOLIAR MICRONUTRIENTS

Salt stress is known as one of the most severe abiotic factors limiting the plant production all over the world. In this study, three additives: (i) supplemental Ca (5 mmol L–1) to nutrient solution, (ii) foliar application of micronutrients (Fe, Mn and Zn at 60, 160 and 110 mg L–1, respectively), and (iii) combination of both of them were evaluated aiming to reduce the negative impact of salt stress on tomato plants cultivated in a soilless culture and improve the internal quality of fruits. The obtained results show that salinity reduced vegetative growth and physiological parameters, fruit yield and its components, and even more lowered fruit market classification of tomatoes. Salinity treatment reduced most of essential macro- and micronutrients in tomato fruit, whilst Na content was increased. Tomato productivity and fruit quality were ameliorated under saline conditions by increasing Ca into nutrient solution and applying a foliar application of micronutrients. A com- bination of both additives ranked the first to alleviate the adverse effects of salinity on tomatoes, followed by solo supplemental Ca into saline nutrient solution. On the other hand, the internal fruit quality of antioxidant compounds, such as vitamin C, lycopene, α-carotene, β-carotene and lutein as well as acidity, total soluble solid and dry matter percent, were increased under saline conditions.

Color-break effect on Kinnow (Citrus nobilis Lour x Citrus deliciosa Tenora) fruit‘s internal quality at early ripening stages under varying environmental conditions

Peel coloration of Kinnow fruits at early maturation was used as a criteria to investigate the internal quality of fruit. Three districts namely Sargodha, Toba Tek Singh (TTS) and Vehari all of which had varying environmental conditions, were selected for harvest of 10 fruits from each replication with same plant to be judged on peel-color-basis. Produce was arranged in order to dark green to deep yellow-colored fruits, through the use of chroma meter. Biochemical analysis were also performed from the triplicates. More titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, total dissolved salts and solubility was recorded in juice obtained from the produce of all three districts, especially in green-colored fruits whereas sugars, pH and soluble solids remained higher in yellow fruits. Polyphenols like total phenolic contents, flavonoids and flavonols were noted as unchanged in the color-based judgement of fruits harvested. However, anthocyanins, carotenoids and antioxidant activity (DPPH inhibition %) all were recorded to be higher in yellow-colored fruits. At the time of maturity approached nearer, green-colored fruits were in possession of more acids, uniform polyphenols and increased reducing sugars with acidic taste while yellow-colored produce was having lower acidity, more sugars and soluble solid contents to impart furthermore sweetness. Green-colored fruits are nutritionally equal in number of consumers who determined the taste to be acidic.

Non-Destructive Classification of Fruits Based on Vis-nir Spectroscopy and Principal Component Analysis

Fruits are one of the sources of nutrition needed for health. Fruit quality is generally assessed by physical and chemical properties. Measurement of fruit internal quality is usually done by destructive techniques. Ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spec-troscopy is a non-destructive technique to measure fruit quality. This technique can rapidly measure the fruit quality, the measured fruit still remains intact, and can be marketed. Besides, UV-Vis-NIR spectrosco-py can also be used to classify fruits. The study aimed to classify var-ious types of fruits using UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy with wavelengths of 300-1041 nm and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). First de-rivative savitzky-golay with 9 smoothing points (dg1) and multiplica-tive scatter correction (MSC) were applied to correct the spectra. The results showed that the use of uv-vis-nir spectroscopy and PCA com-bined with spectra pre-treatment of the MSC method were able to clas-sify various types of fruits with 100% success rate in all fruit samples including sapodilla, ridge gourd, mango, guava, apple and zucchini.

Effects of pollens from the 10 selected Actinidia male genotypes on 4 commercial planting kiwifruit female cultivars in Southern China

ABSTRACTThe effects of pollen from 10 selected (Actinidia spp.) males on 4 main commercial planting female cultivars (‘Hongyang’, ‘Jinguo’, ‘Jinyan’ and ‘Jinkui’) were studied. The main aim was to explore the theoretical basis on the breeding of highly efficient male pollenizers and improve quality. The results showed that different pollen sources had significant effects on fruit set, appearance and internal quality and 1000-seed weight. The effects on fruit set were related to the different ploidy combinations of male and female. Pollen from diploid males had a positive effect on diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid female cultivars. The effect of pollen from hexaploid males on diploid and tetraploid females was significantly inferior to the effect on the hexaploid female. Overall, the results provide a theoretical basis for improving fruit quality, pollination efficiency, fruit set and yield.

In-line Application of Visible and Near-Infrared Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy to Identify Apple Varieties

One of the most studied techniques for the non-destructive determination of the internal quality of fruits has been visible and near-infrared (VIS-NIR) reflectance spectroscopy. This work evaluates a new non-destructive in-line VIS-NIR spectroscopy prototype for in-line identification of five apple varieties, with the advantage that it allows the spectra to be captured with the probe at the same distance from all the fruits regardless of their size. The prototype was tested using varieties with a similar appearance by acquiring the diffuse reflectance spectrum of the fruits travelling on the conveyor belt at a speed of 0.81 m/s which is nearly 1 fruit/s. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the variables that explain the most variance in the spectra. Seven principal components were then used to perform linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). QDA was found to be the best in-line classification method, achieving 98% and 85% success rates for red and yellow apple varieties, respectively. The results indicated that the in-line application of VIS-NIR spectroscopy that was developed is potentially feasible for the detection of apple varieties with an accuracy that is similar to or better than a laboratory system.

Relationship between quality characteristics and skin color of ‘Fuji’ Apples (Malus domestica Borkh.)

We investigated the relationship between apple skin color and internal quality characteristics, such as the concentration of functional compounds, physicochemical and textural properties. The skin color of ‘Fuji’ apples (N = 420) was determined and the apples were categorized into three classes (class A, N = 231; class B, N = 130; class C, N = 59). The apple skin color values correlated significantly with flesh color intensity. For sensory attributes, the yellow color intensity of apple flesh had a positive correlation with redness (a*, r = 0.781) and ΔE(r = 0.787) of apple flesh color (r = 0.787). There was strong correlation between a*, and the chemical properties of apple flesh. Apple skin color (a*) was positively correlated with total juice content (r = 0.784), soluble solid contents (r = 0.626), soluble solid contents/total acidity (r = 0.697), fructose (r = 0.444), sorbitol (r = 0.476), and sucrose concentrations (r = 0.823), respectively. However, malic acid (r = − 0.525), shikimic acid (r = − 0.443), and total organic acid concentrations (r = − 0.519) correlated negatively with a*. The a* value also showed positive correlations with phenol and anthocyanidine concentrations, but a negative correlation with DPPH, FRAP, and ABTS concentrations. A principal component analysis was performed to analyze functional compounds, sensory attributes, and physicochemical properties of apple skin and flesh; the total variance was 91.31% (F1; 58.92%, F2: 32.39%), 84.55% (F1;50.86%, F2;33.69%), 90.37% (F1;75.74%, F2; 14.63%) and 57.20% (F1;41.92%, F2;15.28%), respectively. Our results confirmed a strong correlation between the ΔE and a*, which are indicative of the skin color and the internal quality measures of the Fuji apple. Thus, the skin color of Fuji apples seems to be a reliable index of internal fruit quality.

Non-destructive measurement of internal quality of apple fruit by a contactless NIR spectrometer with genetic algorithm model optimization

CITATION: Nturambirwe, J. F. I., et al. 2019. Non-destructive measurement of internal quality of apple fruit by a contactless NIR spectrometer with genetic algorithm model optimization. Scientific African, 3:e00051, doi:10.1016/j.sciaf.2019.e00051.

Pruning to Improve Flowering and Fruiting of ‘Crystal’ Guava

Pruning is one of the techniques to improve plant growth and production. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of pruning on vegetative and generative growth, and fruit quality of ‘Crystal’ guava. The experiment was conducted from September 2016 to April 2017 at Cikabayan Research Station of Bogor Agricultural University, Dramaga, Bogor, Indonesia (-6.550780, 106.714531). The experiment used completely randomized design with six replications. There were three treatments i.e. a) pruning by leaving 4 pairs of leaves, b) pruning by leaving 8 pairs of leaves, and c) control (without pruning). Pruning was applied after shoot leaves grew fully. The result showed that pruning significantly increased the total number of shoots and generative shoots. Pruned plants produced more flower and fruit than un-pruned ones. Pruning by leaving 4 pairs of leaves tended to produce higher number of flower and fruit than those by leaving 8 pairs of leaves. Fruit weight and internal fruit quality were not affected by pruning.

Postharvest ethephon degreening improves fruit color, flavor quality and increases antioxidant capacity in ‘Eureka’ lemon (Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.)

External color of citrus fruits is a key factor that affects consumer acceptability, and ethephon has been commonly used to the degreening of citrus fruits in the industry. In this study, the green-peeled ‘Eureka’ lemon fruits were treated with ethephon solution (1000 mg/L), and then stored at 20 °C (RH 85%) for 9 days. The fruit color, flavor and antioxidant capacity were investigated during the degreening process, and the qualities of ethephon-degreened fruits were compared to those of yellowish bagged fruits. The results showed that the postharvest ethephon treatment improved the external color, which was indicated by the increases in the citrus color index (CCI) and chroma (C*), and declines in hue angle (h°) and total chlorophylls. Titratable acidity (TA) was lower than that of bagged fruits after ethephon treatment. Soluble solids content (SSC), SSC/TA ratio and ascorbic acid were decreased slightly, but they were still higher than those of bagged fruits. Although individual organic acid and sugar fluctuated after ethephon treatment, no deleterious effects were observed. The taste-active amino acids increased slightly both in the fruit peel and pulp, and the volatile compounds in fruit peel were obviously increased about 1 time as compared to the untreated fresh fruits. Most interestingly, we found that the antioxidant capacity of the degreened fruits was increased by ethephon degreening treatment, and their DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP values of peels and/or pulps reached the highest at the end of storage. In corroboration this, our data also showed that the enhancement of antioxidant capacity was strongly associated with the increase of total phenolics (r>0.9). Taken together, our study shows that postharvest ethephon degreening treatment is an effective and economical approach to improve the peel color and potentially the internal quality of lemon fruits.

Fruit yield and quality characteristics of “Shahmiveh” pear cultivar grafted on six rootstocks

The growth, yield and fruit quality of 7-year-old trees of “Sahahmiveh” pear grafted on six rootstocks, including four quinces (QA, QB, QC, and PQBA29) and an Iranian native pear “Konjoni,” and a wild-type European pear (Pyrus communis L.), were evaluated in a completely randomized design trial with three replications at the Agricultural Research Center of Kabutarabad, Isfahan, Iran in 2 years (2013 and 2014). Yield and fruit weight of all rootstocks were markedly enhanced in the second year of the experiment. Considering both fruit yield and quality, “Sahahmiveh” scions on PQBA29 had the most suitable performance in both years. “Sahahmiveh”-PQBA29 combination exhibited the largest leaf dimensions (5.03 cm width and 7.27 cm length), fruit size values (6.3 cm width and 9.3 cm length), fruit weight (205 g per fruit) the highest yield (41.3 kg per tree), and acceptable fruit internal quality (0.4% titratable acidity and 17.4°brix total soluble solid) in 2014. The highest yield followed by QA (39.6 kg per tree) without significant differences compared to PQBA29. However, “Sahahmiveh”-QA fruit weight (189 g per fruit) and width (5.9 cm) values were markedly less than that of “Sahahmiveh”-PQBA29 in 2014. In conclusion, “Shahmiveh” pear cultivar grafted on PQBA29 exhibited more suitable fruit yield and quality values compared to the other rootstocks and, thus, would be the best rootstock for “Sahahmiveh” pear in Isfahan.

Effects of thermal treatments on chilling injury and shelf life time of Citrus reticulata Blanco1

ABSTRACT The ‘Arrayana’ mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is considered the variety most widely grown in Colombia. Despite being a non-climacteric fruit, it has a short postharvest life. In order to evaluate the effects of thermal treatments on the chilling injury and shelf life time of this cultivar, ripe fruits were selected and submitted to the following treatments: non-treated fruit (control); hot water at 50 ºC for 5 min; hot water at 53 ºC for 3 min; intermittent warming in 8-day cycles at 2 ºC + 1 day at 18 ºC; and intermittent warming in 12-day cycles at 2 ºC + 1 day at 18 ºC. The fruits were stored at 2 ºC for 40 days and then left for one week at room temperature. The thermal treatments decreased the chilling injury in the mandarin fruits during the shelf life time, with the intermittent warming treatments being the most favourable ones (mainly in cycles of 12 days at 2 ºC + 1 day at 18 ºC), because, besides decreasing the chilling injuries and electrolytes leakage, they promoted a higher carotenoid biosynthesis and epidermis colouring, without negative effects on the fruit internal quality.