Influence of climate and roughness on the tolerance to refrigeration of avocado ‘Hass’

Abstract

According to the production area in Mexico, avocado ‘Hass’ fruit presents varying degrees of roughness in the shell, which could affect quality and tolerance to refrigeration. The objectives were to quantify the influence of the climate and the degree of hull roughness on the tolerance to refrigeration and post harvest quality of ‘Hass’ fruits. The research was carried out during 2015-2017 in three orchards located in Jalisco, Michoacán and Nayarit. In each region, 15 trees were selected and 20 panicles were marked to harvest a fruit/ panicle with maturity ≥ 21.5% of Dry Matter (MS). Three refrigeration temperatures (4, 6 and 8 °C) were evaluated for three and four weeks of transport simulation and one control. The effect of climate and degree of roughness did not affect refrigeration tolerance, although the degree of roughness affected weight loss. The factor of greatest impact were the temperature and storage time. At higher temperature, greater weight loss and turn color; at lower temperature, greater external damage. At 4 °C the fruit showed longer shelf life with high firmness and no color change, but with external damage. The best storage temperature was 6 °C, as it maintained color and firmness at acceptable levels, with no external damage and five days shelf life after storage. The temperature of 8 °C barely reached for three weeks of simulation of transfer and insufficient for markets of four weeks.