STRAWBERRY 'CLERY' FRUIT QUALITY EVOLUTION DURING HARVEST

Strawberry fruit composition is important for its taste and health value. Significant variations of the fruit composition such as the content of sugars, acids, phenolic compounds and vitamin C have been already observed and criticized. Several studies have shown that the genotype has a very high impact on these variations. In addition, variations of these parameters can also be monitored within a same genotype and thus also be responsible for the inconsistencies in fruit quality. The aim of this study was to assess the weekly evolution of those quality traits during the whole harvest period and to analyze the duration of the fruit development and its effects on the fruit quality parameters for the strawberry cultivar ‘Clery’.
Our results confirm the high fluctuation of the strawberry quality within a same genotype throughout the harvest period, especially for soluble solids content and for anthocyanins content in fruits. Another source of variation was the duration of the fruit development from flowering to harvest, especially for the anthocyanin contents. Fruits with slower development and with a longer ripening time appeared to accumulate more anthocyanins.