Postharvest changes in weight loss and quality of cactus pear fruit undergoing reproductive bud thinning

Authors

  • Jorge A. Zegbe
  • Jaime Mena–Covarrubias

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56890/jpacd.v12i.93

Keywords:

Opuntia spp., flesh firmness, pulp and peel weights, total soluble solids, dry matter concentration.

Abstract

Fruit is a biological material that starts deteriorating after harvest. The extent of deterioration depends on the fruit itself, but can be modified by pre–harvest management such as reproductive bud thinning (RBT). This research evaluated the effect of two methods of RBT on some fruit quality attributes of ‘Cristalina’ (Opuntia albicarpa) and ‘Rojo Liso’ (Opuntia ficus–indica) cvs. of cactus pear at harvest and after four weeks storage at room temperature. Two RBT experiments were conducted in 2004. In the first experiment, treatments were: no thinning (control) or retaining four, eight or twelve reproductive buds (RB) per mature cladode. In the second experiment, treatments were: no thinning (control, C), thinning every other bud (T1), or thinning two out of every three buds (T2) along the cladode. In the first experiment, at harvest or after storage, pulp–to–peel ratio was lower in ‘Cristalina’ when four RBs per cladode were retained compared with the other treatments. Total soluble solids concentration (TSSC) of ‘Rojo Liso’ fruit was the highest after storage when four RBs per cladode were kept. In the second experiment, fruit quality of ‘Cristalina’ was not modified by either RBT treatment. The highest TSSC was observed in T2 for ‘Rojo Liso’. Fruit weight loss was ca 30% higher in ‘Cristalina’ than ‘Rojo Liso’ in both experiments. The maintenance of fruit quality for longer storage periods is possible through RBT, in particular for ‘Rojo Liso’.

Publication Facts

Metric
This article
Other articles
Peer reviewers 
0
2.4

Reviewer profiles  N/A

Author statements

Author statements
This article
Other articles
Data availability 
N/A
16%
External funding 
N/A
32%
Competing interests 
N/A
11%
Metric
This journal
Other journals
Articles accepted 
18%
33%
Days to publication 
3773
145

Indexed in

Editor & editorial board
profiles
Publisher 
Professional Association for Cactus Development

Downloads

Published

02/18/2010

Issue

Section

Scientific Papers