Effect of irrigation on postharvest quality of two sweet cherry cultivars (Prunus avium L)

摘要

Sweet cherry has been traditionally a rainfed crop, but the change in climatic conditions and the introduction of new cultivars make of irrigation an interesting alternative. The goal of this work was to study the influence of irrigation on postharvest fruit quality of 'Lapins' and 'Ambrunés' sweet cherry cultivars. For that, fully irrigated (FI) and non-irrigated (NI) cherries of both cultivars, harvested at commercial maturity, were compared. The postharvest storage was performed at 4°C and 90% relative humidity for 14 days ('Lapins') and 33 days ('Ambrunés'). The quality parameters analyzed were: firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS/TA, weight loss, moisture, stem colour and rot incidence. FI 'Lapins' cherries were larger than NI cherries at harvest, whereas the physico-chemical quality of cherries remained unaffected, which represents a great commercial advantage. In the case of'Ambrunés', irrigation did not provide any advantage in terms of postharvest fruit quality parameters, although further studies over several years are required. FI cherries of both cultivars had a higher rot incidence than NI cherries.