California Cracking: It's that time of year when the state's cherry growers sweat bringing home the high-dollar - and high-risk - crop

摘要

THIS time of year there are a group of growers in California who may pay as much or more attention to weather reports as growers anywhere: cherry growers. Just a report of showers can send shivers. "The losses can be incredible,' says Kitren Glozer, aresearcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California-Davis who has studied the fragile fruit at length. "I don't think I could live with the pressure." Many fruits can crack if subject to enough rainfall, says Glozer, but noneare as susceptible as cherries. The fruit's skin is only approximately 0.2 millimeters thick, and just three to four epidermal cell layers stand between a sweet crunchy fruit and a soggy mess. Water is taken up through micro-cuticular cracks in the skin, and subepidermal cells swell, leading to discoloration, softening, and, of course, cracking.