Ma'afala Breadfruit Maturity Indicators and the Influence of Harvest Maturity and 1-Methylcyclopropene on Its Postharvest Quality

Fresh breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis (Parkins) Fosberg) is difficult to market commercially due to its rapid postharvest ripening and consumers’ preference for mature, unripe fruit. Maturity indexes are used in other fruit to identify the harvest point for longest storage duration, but maturity is poorly defined in breadfruit and its relationship to storage quality is not clear. We examined 23 traits in 73 Ma’afala breadfruit harvested at 13, 15, 17, and 19 weeks of development to identify traits that indicate maturity in breadfruit. Maturity was defined as full size with steady internal quality, and breadfruit reached this point at 15 weeks of development. Skin color and intersegment space color were the most accurate indicators of maturity, classifying mature breadfruit with 90% accuracy. The respiration rate, hand-feel, and color of 50 breadfruit were observed during storage to determine the effect of the harvest period on storage quality. Later harvested breadfruit discolored more rapidly (5 vs 10.4 days) but the harvest period did not affect softening rate or magnitude and timing of the respiratory peak. The ethylene inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is used in other climacteric fruit to delay postharvest ripening, but its effect on breadfruit has not been reported. A portion of breadfruit from each harvest period was treated with 1 ppm active ingredient 1-MCP for 20 hours and observed in storage as described above. Treatment with 1-MCP delayed the onset of the climacteric peak by an average of 6 days (65% delay), delayed softening by an average of 7 days (63% delay), and reduced variation in these traits. Treatment with 1-MCP did not delay discoloration.

Keywords

Horticulture, Agriculture, Agronomy, 1-methylcyclopropene, Artocarpus, breadfruit, maturity, postharvest, storage

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/10125/103913

Extent

48 pages

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Collections

M.S. - Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences

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