Project Detail
Project Number
P 02-11
Project Leader
H. Bergman
Institution
ExperiCo Agri-Research Solutions
Team Members
-
Student(s)
-
Date Started
January, 2011
Date Completed
July, 2013
Determine the optimal maturity for late harvested Forelle pears, to establish early market access, utilising SmartFreshSM
Executive Summary
- Trial results confirm that the Forelle Early Market Access (FEMA) post-harvest technology was successfully applied in four main Forelle production areas. Nine different trial sites were used during the course of this study: 1 in 2011; 4 in 2012; another 4 in 2013.
- For each of the three years of this study, the SmartFreshSM treatment efficacy data indicated that the SmartFreshSM application was successful on the more advanced maturity fruit (≥ 5.5 kg at harvest) for each site where this technology was tested.
- SmartFreshSM applied to Forelle pears at an advanced harvest maturity (≥ 5.5 kg at harvest) maintained a good firmness even after 4 weeks cold storage at -0.5°C, followed by 7 days shelf life, and completely inhibited the occurrence of mealiness.
- Results from the commercial FEMA trial (P 13-11), which include vastly greater numbers of sites (including the Langkloof area), should further support these findings.
- The optimal advanced maturity for FEMA pears has been identified as fruit with 5.5 – 6.0 kg firmness, below 3.0 skin ground colour (according to the industry colour chart), a good TSS (above 14.0) to malic acid equivalent ratio for good flavour aspects and fruit with no astringency at time of harvest. Of concern in this current data set were the similarities between the maturity indexing parameters of Harvest 1 (standard commercial protocol) and Harvest 2 (commercial FEMA programme) fruit. In 3 of the 4 orchards used in the 2013 season this could be explained by the short 3 – 4 day period between harvests. In some cases, orchards did not meet the FEMA release criteria.
- Care should be taken in monitoring the release date of orchards that may present unexpected delayed firmness reductions, taking longer than 14 days after the expected standard commercial harvest date to reach the 5.5 and 6.0 kg prerequisite. The release/ harvest of such orchards should take high priority with all decision making parties to prevent financial losses for the producer.
- Further studies are required to determine: the minimum harvest flesh firmness where fruit can be exported without becoming overripe after storage; to determine the effect of extended storage of fruit (stock rolling); the maximum delay in SmartFreshSM application from harvest to room filling for fruit destined for the FEMA programme and to determine if pear cultivars, other than Forelle, can be successfully cold stored using the FEMA model.
For Final Report, please contact:
anita@hortgro.co.za