Flesh firmness and background skin colour are generally accepted as reliable methods to determine maturity. Start monitoring the fruit in the orchard at least one week prior to the expected harvest date as the correlation between flesh firmness and skin…
Determine the skin colour and fruit size of the fruit in the optimum flesh firmness range. Use these criteria as a guide on which fruit to harvest. Harvest this fruit provided that the TSS and skin colour (if applicable) conforms…
Disorder The following quality requirements need to be adhered to when packing nectarines, i.e. General appearance Shape Minimum diameter Uniformity in size Hailmarks Bruises Malformation Speckles or russeting Western flower thrip damage Dry cracks Scale marks Torn out stems Foreign…
Handling after harvest Cultivars not prone to develop woolliness Ideally these nectarine cultivars should be picked and packed on the same day and cooled to -0.5 °C as soon as possible after packing. If this is not possible picking lugs…
Definition Woolliness is a physiological abnormality that occurs during ripening of susceptible peach and nectarine fruit after prolonged cold storage. It is characterized by flesh tissue with a dry, mealy texture from which no juice can be squeezed. Pulpiness is…
Definition Internal browning (IB) is a chilling injury which can occur in unripe nectarines stored at low temperatures. Affected fruit have a normal external appearance but the flesh tissue has a brown discoloured appearance. General information When the flesh tissue…
Definition Overripeness (OR) is a natural and inevitable consequence of the senescence which follows the growth and maturation phases that occur in all fruit. It is a general excessive softening of flesh tissue which occurs in the whole mesocarp. In…
Harvest maturity There is a misconception that nectarines destined for air freight can or should be harvested significantly more mature. Transit temperatures for air-freight fruit vary depending on circumstances. However, in most cases air and fruit pulp temperature recordings on…
