Cultivars of fresh market peaches (Prunus persica, L. Batsch) vary in the duration for maximum yields in the shipping stage (firm ripe) from once-over harvests. A cultivar having many firm ripe fruit with few green and over ripe at a given time has a narrow maturity range. It can be picked fewer times, facilitate mechanical once-over harvests and reduce spray costs. Fruit were harvested from small trees or scaffold branches of large trees at 2- to 3-day intervals as once-over harvests on 4 dates to estimate maturity range and duration of the maximum firm ripe fruit. Fruit of 3 cultivars were graded by color into maturity stages: 1) green, 2) firm ripe, and 3) over ripe. `Loring' had 82% firm ripe sorted in the 1st 3 harvests in 1987 and 1988. `Redskin' had 83% firm ripe in the 2nd and 3rd harvests in 1987. `Redglobe' had 85% marketable in the 2nd and dropped to 75% in the 3rd harvest in 1987. `Redhaven' had about 80% firm ripe in the 1st 3 harvests in 1988. Results indicate that the duration of narrow maturity ranges of `Loring' and `Redhaven' would permit them to be harvested over about 5 days with high yieids in the firm-ripe stage.
Edamame growers currently rely heavily on planting depth recommendations for grain-type soybean, despite stark differences in seed characteristics between the two types of cultivars, most notably seed size. Therefore, the objective of the study was to determine the effects of planting depth and seed size on edamame emergence. A popular edamame cultivar used in commercial production was sorted into “small” (23.7 g/100-seed) and “large” (36.8 g/100-seed) seed-size classes, then planted at depths of 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 5.0 cm in field experiments. Experiments were conducted in four environments as a split-plot experimental design with four replications. Seed size did not influence total emergence; however, small seed emerged 10% faster than large seed. Although planting depth recommendations for grain-type soybean are 3.2 to 4.5 cm, our results showed edamame emerged more completely and quicker at the shallowest depths examined. The research could be expanded to capture greater diversity in growing environments and crop cultivars; however, the vegetable industry now has research-based information to guide preliminary recommendations regarding appropriate planting depth of edamame.
Red and white skin potatoes (`Cal Red', `Cal White', `Durango', VC1015, `Yukon Gold', `Latona', A94381, and `Satina') were harvested from plots in commercial fields in Kern and San Joaquin Counties and at the Univ. California Research Center at Tulelake. After washing and sorting, potatoes were held in plastic trays in the dark (black plastic bags) or exposed to light (90 cm below cool-white fluorescent GE Watt-Miser 34W bulbs, ≈1300 lux) at 20 °C. After 0, 3, 6 and 9 days, potatoes were scored for appearance of greening (1 to 5 scale), evaluated for external color (L*a*b* color values), skin chlorophyll concentration, and glycoalkaloid concentrations. For the latter, freeze-dried slices of tuber were extracted and analyzed by colorimetry and HPLC for alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine. Initial glycoalkaloid concentrations varied among cultivars, with `Cal Red' consistently having the highest concentrations. Tubers stored in the dark had no or a slight increase in glycoalkaloid concentrations. Light exposure resulted in increased glycoalkaloid concentrations in all cultivars, but to varying degrees. Some varieties had negligible changes while others increased as much as eightfold. The average increase was 300%. Generally, `Cal White' had the largest light-induced increases in glycoalkaloids.
High-temperature, controlled-atmosphere treatments were explored for disinfestation of codling moths from `Bartlett' pear fruit. Fruit were freshly harvested in 1996 and 1997 and sorted for uniformity and absence of defects. Fruit were exposed to forced-heating at 46 °C for 1, 2 and 3 h in either air or a controlled atmosphere of 1% oxygen and 15% carbon dioxide. Fruit were evaluated during ripening at 20 °C immediately after treatment (1997 only) and after 3 weeks of cold storage at -1 °C. Fruit were ripened with and without an exogenous ethylene treatment in 1997. Heat treatments, and particularly heat plus CA treatments, slowed fruit ripening, even after fruit had been stored for 3 weeks. The longer the treatment, the greater the inhibition. Fruit from longer treatments were firmer than untreated fruit after 4 days of ripening, but treatment with exogenous ethylene did not overcome the inhibition in the rate of ripening, although fruit from all treatments softened faster. The mortality of codling moths following exposure to the same treatments was also determined. With the heat plus controlled-atmosphere treatments, 100% mortality was achieved in 2.5 h with the faster heating rate used in our 1996 experiment, while it took 3 h to achieve 100% mortality with the slower heating rate.
Abstract
A diagnostic procedure was developed to identify mineral limitations on pome fruit quality. Fruit mineral levels were useful only when developed on a ranked or percentile (0 to 100) basis. Therefore, procedures were developed using percentile values for both leaf and fruit mineral concentration. An individual can decide which quality parameters are important and whether minimum, maximum, or intermediate values for these quality parameters are most desirable. Multiple regression is used to predict relative rankings for each qualify parameter. A simple sorting program allows the operator to use these rankings to choose which categories of fruit are undesirable. It is then possible to select from among remaining lots those likely to contain fruit having the poststorage quality factors the operator considers most important. The approach is demonstrated with 2 years of data from a high-density ‘Starkspur Golden Delicious’ apple orchard. Selections of fruit with the best poststorage quality were based on mineral content, assuming that maximum firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, and yellow color were considered as most desirable. Further ranking evaluations were obtained by evaluating 6 years of data relating quality in ‘d’Anjou’ pears with fruit mineral concentrations. A ranking approach allows meaningful interpretation despite large differences in fruit mineral concentrations reported for different locations and years by a range of analytical laboratories. The procedure is flexible, and fruit could be categorized successfully according to several definitions of optimum quality.
Deciduous tree fruit crops such as apple (Malus domestica), peach (Prunus persica), and sweet cherry (Prunus avium) are not mechanically harvested for the fresh market. Attempts to mechanically harvest these fruits by mass removal techniques have not been successful due to excessive fruit damage caused during detachment, fall through the canopy, and collection. Robotic harvesters have not been commercially accepted due to insufficient fruit recovery. A U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) harvesting concept shows promise for harvesting both fresh market quality apples and sweet cherries. Successful mechanical harvesting of fresh market quality deciduous tree fruit will only occur when plant characteristics and machine designs are integrated into a compatible system. Cultivar characteristics that would facilitate machine harvesting are uniform fruit maturity at harvest, firm fruit that are resistant to mechanical damage, and compact growth habit that produces fruit in narrow canopies and on short/stiff limbs. Engineers must develop new detachment principles that minimize the energy input to effect fruit detachment, and develop durable energy-absorbing catching surfaces/conveyors to eliminate damage during collection of the fruit. As technology advances, sorting and sizing systems might be developed that can be operating on the harvester to eliminate culls in the field and deliver only fresh market quality fruit to the packers.
Abstract
Fruits were collected on weekly intervals in 1980, beginning at fruit set (ovary shatter) and continuing through harvest. Additional samples collected at harvest in 1980 and veraison in 1981 were sorted into preveraison green, postveraison green, and ripening categories. Seed number per berry was directly related to accumulation of 14C-photosynthate, fresh weight, and dry weight. Seed number had little relationship with berry content of indoleacetic acid (IAA), abscisic acid (ABA) or percentage of acidity. Percentage of soluble solids was not affected by seed number prior to veraison, but after veraison, percentage of soluble solids and intensity of juice color were inversely related to seed number. Nonripe fruit at the time of harvest had fewer seeds per berry, and fruit containing an immature seed did not accumulate ABA or enter veraison. IAA levels were similar in ripening and nonripening fruit. IAA declined to basal levels by about 55 days after peak bloom. ABA began to increase after 65 days from peak bloom and berry changes associated with veraison occurred after 72 days.
Abstract
‘Wolcott’ blueberries were harvested at 8 stages of development (small, deep green to overripe) on 3 dates in 1963 and on 4 dates in 1964 from 2 plantings in eastern North Carolina. As the fruit developed, per cent acid decreased while pH, per cent soluble solids, sugar (per cent of fresh weight and mg/berry), soluble solids/acid ratio (SS/A), anthocyanin content and berry weight increased. Acid content (mg/berry) increased during early stages but decreased rapidly during later stages of development. Anthocyanin content (mg/cm2 of berry surface) was significantly correlated with sugar/acid ratio and SS/A ratio. An increase in incidence of decay of 10 punctured or bisected fruit samples after 9 to 11 days at 70°F, or 21 days at 32° plus 6 days at 70°, was associated with an increase in ripeness. In culture solutions with acid and sugar levels paralleling those of fruit of various degrees of ripeness, growth of both Alternaria and Botrytis spp. decreased as the level of acid in culture solution increased. Thus, the acid composition of blueberry fruit appears to afford a mechanism of resistance to decay-producing organisms. This indicates a potential for selecting varieties with high-keeping quality through selection of clones high in acid. The increase in anthocyanin (Acy) content as berries develop indicates a potential means of sorting blueberries electronically, according to their Acy content.
Abstract
‘Miragreen’ garden pea seeds from individual seed lots were sorted into bleached, partially-bleached, and non-bleached categories. Seeds were either soaked for 48 hours in aerated water at 22°C, coated with thiram fungicide, or received no treatment. Seeds were planted in Conover loam soil where damping-off and seedling rot were primarily caused by Pythium ultimum Trow and Fusarium solani (Mort.) Sacc f. sp. pisi (Jones) Snyd. & Hans. No differences in germination in vitro were found among bleached, partially bleached, and non-bleached seeds. However, seedling emergence in the field was greater from untreated non-bleached seeds (69%) than from untreated bleached seeds (30%); emergence from partially bleached seeds (58%) was intermediate. Regardless of degree of bleaching, all seedlings were a normal green color after emergence, and appeared equal in vigor. Pea yields from untreated bleached seeds were less than from untreated non-bleached seeds, apparently because pea-emergence damping off was so much greater with bleached than with non-bleached seeds. No yield differences occurred with fungicide-treated seeds. Soaking partially bleached seeds for 48 hours in aerated water at 22°C prior to planting in April was as effective in improving emergence in artificially infested soil as coating seeds with thiram. However, when seeds were planted in mid-June, the thiram treatment gave higher seedling emergence than the soaking treatment. In general, high yields were achieved by early planting of seeds and minimum root rot.
Field experiments were conducted on two cultivars of saskatoon to test the effectiveness of ethephon in stimulating uniform fruit ripening without compromising fruit quality. Shrubs of cultivars Northline and Smoky were sprayed to runoff with ethephon (0, 250, 500, and 1000 mg·L-1 for `Northline'; 0, 500, and 1000 mg·L-1 for `Smoky') prior to fruit maturity. Fruit were harvested 4 to 8 days after treatment and sorted into ripeness categories by size, and the fully ripe fruit were evaluated for quality (surface color, firmness, mean fruit weight, soluble solids, and titratable acids). Ethephon significantly increased the percent ripe fruit per shrub (by up to 9.7%) in both cultivars, without a significant effect on fruit quality. At concentrations up to 1000 mg·L-1, ethephon may be an effective ripening agent for saskatoon fruit without reducing fruit quality. Although there were significant differences in yield from year to year for both cultivars because of their biennial-bearing habit, ethephon treatments did not significantly affect total yields.