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Postharvest Handling Of Stone Fruits

Postharvest Handling Of Stone Fruits

Beth MitchamUC Davis

Nectarines, Peaches, Plums

Many slides from Carlos Crisosto

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Harvesting

California Minimum Maturity Indices for Stone Fruit

Fruit Minimum Maturity Indices

Apricot Color of the external surface area: >3/4 yellowish green or >1/2 yellow

Cherry Entire surface solid light-red and 14 to 16% soluble solids (depending on cultivar)

Nectarine &

Peach

Surface ground color change from green to yellow, shape (fullness of shoulder and suture)

Plum Surface color and flesh firmness (depending on cultivar)

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US MatureUS Mature

California MatureCalifornia Mature

Nectarine Maturity StagesNectarine Maturity Stages

California well mature

Ground Color is used as a maturity/ripeness index for

stone fruits

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Nectarine Maturity vs. Firmness, Soluble Solids (SS%), and Titratable acidity (TA%)

Maturity stage

Firmness (lbf)

SS% TA%

US Mature 13-15 8-10 0.9-1.1

CA Mature 10-12 9-11 0.7-0.9

Partially-ripe

6-10 11-13 0.5-0.7

Ripe 2-5 13-15 0.4-0.6

Acceptability of Nectarines and Peaches Increases with Higher Soluble Solids Content

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More Types of Tree Fruit 

• About 70 varieties released per year.

• 50% of the releases are sub acid types.

Crisosto and Crisosto. 2005. Postharvest Biology and Technology 39: 10-18.

Packaging Systems

Ranch Pack Mechanized Pack

20 a 60 G

40 a 250 G

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Ranch Packing of Fruit Harvested into Buckets

Set buckets onSet buckets onbucket trailersbucket trailers

Deliver toDeliver topacking areapacking area

Sort, size, and Sort, size, and pack from bucketspack from buckets

Cool andCool andholdhold

Load into Load into refrigeratedrefrigerated

transport vehiclestransport vehicles

DistributeDistribute

Transfer to Transfer to central coolingcentral cooling

Bucket Operation

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Bucket Dump Operation

Tote Dumping

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Bucket & Tote Dumps

‘Ranch Pack’ Peach Handling: Simple, Clean and Careful Handling for High Quality Product

No washingNow packers wear hairnets, glovesForced Air CoolingFrequent Inspection among growers in cooperative since market under 1 label

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Large‐scale Packing Operation for Stone Fruits

Mechanized Packing of Fruit Harvested into Bins

Dump bags intoDump bags intofield binsfield bins

Deliver toDeliver topackinghousepackinghouse

Cool and holdCool and holdin binsin bins

Cool andCool andholdhold

Load into Load into refrigeratedrefrigerated

transport vehiclestransport vehicles

DistributeDistribute

MechanicallyMechanicallypackpack

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Transport from field to packhouse

Hydrocooling

Bin Dump and Pre‐Washing

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Brushing Washing

(Water + Detergent; Chlorinated water)

Waxing

Waxing Operation

Postharvest FungicideStone Fruit Residues (ppm) for

Domestic and International Markets

Chemical Names

TradeNames

UsageResidue*

Tolerance(MRL)

Fludioxonil Scholar 0.5-1 5

Fenhexamid Judge** 1-3 10

Propiconazole Mentor***

0.5-1 2***

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Brown RotGrey Mold

Mucor Rot

Stone Fruit DecaySour Rot

Brown RotMonilinia fructicola

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Sizing by Weight

Sorting by Size, Color, and Defects

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Final Sorting & Packing

Volume fill bulk packaging Tray Pack

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Lidding, Palletizing and Forced Air Cooling; Inspection

Storage Stone Fruits

• -1 to 1ºC

• 90 to 95% RH

• 2 to 6 weeks, depending on cultivar

• CA generally not used cultivar dependent, may delay color and firmness change, not control decay

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PhysicalDamage

Contamination

Inking or Staining Crisosto et al., 1999. California Agriculture 53(1): 19-23.

InternalBreakdown

Mealiness

Flesh browning

Lack of flavor

Failure to ripen

Lurie and Crisosto. 2005. Postharvest Biology and Technology 37: 195-208.

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Effect of Temperature on ‘Carnival’ Peach Internal Breakdown After Storage Plus 2 Days at 20F

0C 2.2C 5C

10C7.2CSmith, W.H., 1934. Cold storage of Elberta peaches. Ice and Cold Storage. 37, 54-57.Crisosto, et al., 1999. Susceptibility to chilling injury of peach, nectarine, and plum cultivars grown in

California. HortScience 34(6):1116-1118

Killing Temperature Range

Internal Breakdown Timing

WEEKS

1 2 3

PE

RC

EN

T

0

20

40

60

80

100

Mealiness (visual)Mealiness (taste)Flesh Browning

Carlos Crisosto

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Category Cultivar 0°C 5°C

A Betty Anne 5 5

October Sun 5 5

Flavor Rich 5 5

Joanne Red 5 5

B Angeleno 5 3

Fortune 5 3

Hiromi Red 5 3

Black Amber 5 2

Purple Majesty 5 3

C Show Time 4 2

Friar 4 2

Earliqueen 3 2

Plum market life (weeks) held at 2 storage temperatures based on chilling injury symptom development

Crisosto et al., 2008. Adv. Hort. Sci. (Italy) 22(3): 201-204.

ControlledDelayedCooling

5C 20 Days

0C 20 Days 20C 48 Hours + 5C 20 Days

(43%  Mealy) (0% Mealy)

(100%  Mealy)

Crisosto, Carlos H., David Garner, Harry L. Andris, and Kevin R. Day.  Controlled delayed cooling extends peach market life.  HortTechnology 14:99‐104.

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Stone fruit Conditioning program72F, 92% RH; hold to reach firmness

Firmness, %SS, %TAWestern Farm Press, Nov 4, 2013: 80% of CA stone fruit industry uses conditioning

How early can we pick?

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Diaz‐Mula et al, 2010 –’Sonata’ Cherry.

(o) Fruit weight, ( ) TSS, (●) Total acidity, () Firmness.

0.9

1

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

1.5

1.6

Light Medium Dark

Titratab

le Acidity (%

)

CoralChelanBing

Cherry Color at Harvest

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At Harvest

Fir

mn

ess

(g)

150

175

200

225

250

275

300UntreatedGA

Salmon Red Mahogany Dark

So

lub

le S

olid

s (%

)

10

15

20

25

Mahogany

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Cherry PittingCherry Pitting

Cherry BruisingCherry Bruising

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DTR

Pit

tin

g (

%)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

UntreatedGA

Salmon Red Mahogany Dark

Sh

rive

l (%

)

0

20

40

60

80

Mahogany

Salmon Red Mahogany Dark

Bro

wn

Ste

m (

%)

0

10

20

30

40

De

cay

(%)

0

2

4

6

8

10UntreatedGA

Mahogany

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Sensory Cherry Flavor

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

So

lub

le S

olid

s C

on

ten

t (%

)

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

GAR ² = 0.77

ControlR ² = 0.98

In Bing, Cherry Color was Closely Correlated to Sensory Cherry Flavor and Soluble Solids Content

Harvest Time Effects on Fruit Firmness

7 9 11 13 15 17 19

Fir

mn

ess

(g)

140

150

160

170

180

190

200

Harvest Time (h)

At Harvest3d at 36°F3d at 36°F + 1d at 68°F3d at 36°F + 2d at 68°F

2C2C + 1d at 20C 2C + 2d at 20C

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2 Before Storage 36.4 19.2 2.2 1.1 131 183

5 45.6 21.8 4.4 0.5 118 173

2 After Storage - - 3.2 1.2 178 180

5 - - 5.0 1.9 144 195

2 Before Storage 36.4 19.2 2.2 1.1 131 183

5 45.6 21.8 4.4 0.5 118 173

2 After Storage - - 3.2 1.2 178 180

5 - - 5.0 1.9 144 195

Time in Evaluation Fruit Temp. °C Stem Browning Firmness g/mmField Time Sun Shade Sun Shade Sun Shade

Time in Evaluation Fruit Temp. °C Stem Browning Firmness g/mmField Time Sun Shade Sun Shade Sun Shade

Effect of Sun Exposure on Cherry Fruit QualityEffect of Sun Exposure on Cherry Fruit Quality

Kupferman 1998Kupferman 1998

Stem browning scale: 0 to 5

Schick and Toivonen, 2000

9am 11am 1pm 3pm 5pm

Tem

per

atu

re º

C

Rel

ativ

e H

um

idit

y (%

)

Time

24

22

20

18

16

14

100

80

60

40

Temp – open bin

Temp – tarp bin

RH – open bin

RH – tarp bin

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Cluster Cutter

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Shower Hydrocooler

Thompson and Grant

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Some defects detected by 

Cherry Vision

Machine Vision SortingDry matterSSCWeightColor

ShapeExternal defectsHardness 

Cherry MAP Considerations

Reduced O2 Increased CO2

Beneficial range 3-10% 10-15%

Benefits Firmness retention

Decay control, maintenance of

fresh appearance

Potential for benefits

Moderate Very good

Injurious level <1% >30%

Crisosto and Associates

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Efficacy of selected fungicides for control of three postharvest decays of sweet cherry

Fungicide Common NameBrown

RotGray Mold

Rhizopus Rot

Registered

Rovral 50WP Iprodione +++ +++ +++ Cancelled

Scholar 50WP Fludioxonil +++ +++ +++ Yes

Allisan Dichloran + ++ +++ Yes

Elite 45WP* Tebuconazole +++ + ++ Yes

Elevate 50WDG Fenhexamid ++ +++ - Soon

Pristine Mixture +++ +++ +++ Soon

PH-066 Pyrimethanil ++ +++ - Soon?

* - Efficacy of Elite 45WP is rate dependent.

Questions?