Impact testing was used to assess the variables related to bruise resistance for four peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] cultivars. The effects of cultivar, ripeness, drop height, and firmness on fruit bruise incidence, bruise volume, respiration, and ethylene evolution rates of freshly harvested peaches were determined. The impact variables peak impact force, contact time, absorbed energy, and percent absorbed energy were measured at three stages of fruit ripeness and at three fruit drop heights. Each of the impact variables changed with fruit ripeness. Cultivars differed in their characteristic response to impact. Fruit impact, under the low to moderate impact energies used, had negligible effects on fruit respiration and ethylene production for the cultivars studied. Bruise incidence and volume increased with drop height and especially with advancing stage of ripeness. Under conditions we used, peach fruit bruise severity could be determined by either bruise incidence in or bruise volume of mesocarp tissue.
Abstract
Succinic acid-2,2-dimethyl-hydrazide (SADH) applied at 1000 ppm 2 months before harvest failed to alter the bruising characteristics of either ‘Golden Delicious’ apple or a very bruise-susceptible selection.
Electrical impedance was used to determine the extent of tissue damage that occurred as a result of bruising of apple fruit (Malus ×domestica Borkh, cvs. Granny Smith and Splendour). Impedance measurements were made before and after bruising. Plots of reactance against resistance at 36 spot frequencies between 50 Hz and 1 MHz traced a semicircular arc, which contracted in magnitude after bruising. A number of characteristics of these curves were then related to bruise weight. The change in resistance that occurred as a result of fruit impact (ΔR50Hz) was the best predictor of bruise weight, with r2 values up to 0.71. Before bruising, resistance of fruit was higher in `Splendour' than in `Granny Smith' (P < 0.001), and at 0 °C than at 20 °C (P < 0.001), but was not influenced by fruit weight. The influence of apple cultivar and temperature on electrical impedance may cause difficulties when implementing these measurements in a commercial situation. However, further development of electrical impedance spectroscopy methodologies may result in convenient research techniques for assessing bruise weight without having to wait for browning of the flesh.
Abstract
Ethylene production decreased linearly in ‘Golden Delicious’ apples given from 1 to 8 uniform bruises while CO2 evolution was generally high in bruised apples. Primary regions of ethylene production and O2 utilization were located under the skin and in the core.
bruise damage. Drop tests and internal bruising. In 2010, hand-harvested fruit of ‘Farthing’, ‘Scintilla’, ‘Sweetcrisp’, and selections FL 05-264 and FL 05-290 were used in a drop test. Hand-harvested fruit were dropped into 1-gal bucket from a height of
Our previous research has provided evidence that in-season calcium applications can increase tuber calcium and improve tuber quality with reduced internal defects. To determine if increasing the tuber calcium concentration also mitigates tuber bruise incidence, five commercially relevant potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars (`Russet Burbank', `Atlantic', `Snowden', `Superior', and `Dark Red Norland') were grown during three seasons, 1999–2001. Three split applications of a calcium/nitrogen water soluble blend totaling 168 kg·ha–1calcium were made starting at hilling. All plots, including controls, received an equal amount of total nitrogen in a season. Tubers were allowed to be bruised during normal machine harvest standard to commercial production in Wisconsin. Over 100 tubers from each replication (5–10 replications/treatment) were cut and examined for the incidences of bruise and internal brown spot. Paired samples of medullary tissue were taken for measuring calcium concentration. As expected, tuber tissue calcium concentration increased significantly, in all cultivars and in all years, with in-season calcium application. Bruise incidence varied among cultivars and seasons. Although tuber calcium concentration varied among seasons, `Atlantic' and 'Snowden' consistently had the lowest calcium concentration, whereas `Superior' and `Dark Red Norland' consistently had the highest calcium concentration. Meta-analysis of pooled data for three years showed that blackspot bruise incidence was significantly reduced with calcium application in `Atlantic', `Burbank', and `Snowden'. On the other hand, `Dark Red Norland' and `Superior' had low incidence of bruise and were unaffected by calcium applications. Regression analyses of pooled data from all cultivars for three years revealed a significant quadratic relationship between blackspot bruise and tuber tissue calcium as well as between blackspot bruise and internal brown spot. A linear to plateau plot of medullary calcium concentration versus blackspot bruise incidence revealed that bruise incidence is minimized between 200 and 250 μg/kg (dry wt)–1 tuber calcium concentration. To our knowledge, ours is the first study providing evidence for reducing bruise by improving tuber calcium. Variations in the bruise incidences among cultivars generally followed tuber calcium concentration suggesting a genetic control. Given the role of calcium in improved membrane health and enhanced wall structure, and as a modulator of physiological responses, it is not surprising that internal brown spot and bruise incidences are reduced by in-season application to calcium-deficient cultivars.
Abstract
Susceptibility of apples (Malus domestica Borkh. ‘Gala’ and ‘Granny Smith’) to impact damage increased from early to late harvest time and decreased during storage at 1°C. Impact damage was quantified as bruise depth, diameter, volume, or weight. Bruise weight calculated as a percentage of fruit weight was the least variable measurement of bruising that was also proportional to height to impact of the fruit. Although a range of 22 New Zealand-grown apple cultivars differed in susceptibility to bruising, the variation was not correlated with fruit density, fruit firmness, or polyphenol content and polyphenoloxidase (PPO) activity in epidermal and cortical fruit tissues.
Abstract
In the article “Relationship of Harvest Date, Storage Conditions, and Fruit Characteristics to Bruise Susceptibility of Apple”, by Joshua D. Klein (J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 112:113–118, January 1987), the last paragraph of Materials and Methods, sixth line, should read “…of filtered extract rapidly with 1 ml of 0.1 m catechol…”, not 0.1 ml.
Eight hundred and fifty-three clones of Russet Burbank and 1012 clones of Lemhi Russet were obtained from Native Plants, Inc. in 1988. The clones were produced via a tissue culture system designed to produce somoclonal variants. Four cycles of selection were completed from 1988-1991. Selection was based on resistance to blackspot bruise, a tuber flesh discoloration caused by condensation of free tyrosine; or the ability to produce light french fry color following cold storage. At the end of the four selection cycles all but six Russet Burbank clones and seven Lemhi Russet clones were eliminated. ANOVA across years was completed for the eleven somaclonal variants and Russet Burbank and Lemhi Russet checks.
Of the Russet Burbank clones, three were significantly (p = .05) more resistant to blackspot bruise and one had significantly better fry color after cold storage. All four clones had significantly reduced yield in comparison to the check clones. Of the Lemhi Russet clones, three were significantly more resistant to blackspot bruise, and four had significantly better fry color than the check clone. Only one of the seven clones (one with superior fry color designated L1908) did not show a significantly lower yield potential.
Potato tubers (Solanum tuberosum) of genotypes that vary in resistance to dark pigment formation when damaged, characteristic of the physiological disorder blackspot, were assayed for free tyrosine. The tubers were also assayed for relative levels of chorismate mutase and proteinase activities, which can regulate free tyrosine levels. The susceptibility of potato tubers to blackspot was shown to be correlated to the amount of free tyrosine by third order regression (R = 0.88). Tyrosine was found to be a limiting factor in pigment development. Chorismate mutase activity (CMI and CMII) was not correlated to blackspot susceptibility of the genotypes studied. Proteinase activities of Atlantic, TXA 763-5, Ranger Russet, Russet Burbank, and Lemhi Russet tuber protein extracts measured with synthetic substrates correlated with blackspot susceptibility. This suggests that the high free tyrosine levels associated with blackspot susceptibility may be due to high levels of proteinase activity in the tuber, rather than tyrosine synthesis.