Effect of maturity stage at harvest on quality of ripe Shimizu Hakuto peach (Prunus persica)
JIA Hui-juan
LI Bin
Mizuguchi Kyoko
Okamoto Goro
Abstract：Fruit of Shimizu Hakuto peach (Prunus persica Batsch.), a melting white flesh cultivar, were harvested at immature(IM), hard-mature(HM), firm-mature(FM), and tree-ripe(TR) stages, corresponding to 6, 4, 2 and 0 days before the TR stage. All fruit except the TR ones were stored at 25 ℃ until full ripeness before comparison of fruit quality. The rate of ethylene production from the intact fruit increased during storage, the highest being from the FM fruit. Skin L* and C* values and juice sucrose and aromatic lactone contents were significantly higher in HM and FM fruit than in IM and TR fruit after storage. Titratable acidity, citric acid, asparagine, and off-flavor volatile contents were the highest in the IM fruit after storage. The analytical data corresponded well with the sensory evaluation scores, suggesting that the FM fruit was most acceptable. The IM fruit was rated as unsavory because of its finn and less fine texture, low sweetness and aromas and high sourness. From these results, we concluded that Shimizu Hakuto peach should be harvested at the FM stage to supply consumers with fruit of the highest quality. The effective parameters for judging the optimum maturity stage for harvest were discussed.
Keywords：PeachAromaEthyleneMaturity stageTaste
Publication Date：2007-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 276-281 )