Harvest Maturity Affects Fruit Quality and Postharvest Behavior of Red-fleshed Pitaya Fruit

摘要

Pitaya (Hylocereus costaricensis) is a climbing cactus that has a red peel and white or red flesh with many small black seeds. It is non-climacteric and should be harvested when fruit ripeness has reached minimum acceptable quality for eating. However, harvest maturity and the effect on postharvest fruit quality have not been closely studied under Florida growing conditions. Pitaya (cv. Lisa) were harvested at 1/2 red, 3/4 red, and full-red (commercial maturity) ripeness stages in Homestead, Florida.Samples were transported the same day to the University of Florida and held at 15 °C overnight. The next day, all fruit were sorted for uniformity of size and quality, placed on trays, stored at 20 °C with 85% relative humidity, and evaluated every 3days (n = 4) over an 11-day period. Even though fruit harvested at 1/2 red stage had a 10-day shelf life and firm texture, they required 6 days to develop uniform full red color, had a higher respiration rate, produced twice the amount of ethylene, and had significantly lower soluble solids content compared to fruit from the other ripeness stages. Pitaya harvested at full-red had the shortest shelf life: only 8 days at ambient temperature due to the development of severe yellow lesions and a 2% higher weight loss than other treatments. Pitaya harvested at 3/4 red stage developed full red color after 3 days, had a low respiration rate, the highest sugar/ acid ratio, and a 10-day shelf life. Therefore, 3/4 red stage pitaya had the best flavor and longestshelf life compared to fruit harvested at other maturities.