Effect of production site and postharvest treatments on the incidence of rind pitting and chemical properties of 'Benny' sweet orange

M.J. Mothapo, N. Mathaba, T.P. Mafeo, R.R. Mphahlele
The study aimed to investigate the effect of the production site and postharvest treatments on the rind pitting development and chemical properties of 'Benny' sweet orange. 'Benny' sweet orange fruit was harvested from Tzaneen, Groblersdal and Musina, during the 2016 season in South Africa. The fruit was subjected to the following treatments: T1 = no wax and dehydration, T2 = wax and dehydration and T3 = wax and no dehydration; fruit were dehydrated for 3 d at 25°C and stored at -0.6 and 4.5°C for 28 d. The treatments were replicated three times. The fruits were evaluated for rind pitting, weight loss, firmness, total electrolyte leakage (TEL), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and TSS:TA ratio. Fruit that was harvested from Groblersdal and exposed to T2, had a higher incidence of rind pitting followed by Musina and Tzaneen with similar postharvest treatment stored -0.6 and 4.5°C. Meanwhile, fruit harvested from Groblersdal and Musina exposed to T2 had the highest weight loss percentage at 4.5°C whereas those from Tzaneen exposed to T1 had the lowest weight loss percentage at -0.6°C. Storage at 4.5°C resulted in a significantly higher total electrolyte leakage for fruit harvested from Tzaneen exposed to T2. Furthermore, an increase in TSS was observed after storage across all production site, postharvest treatments and storage duration. The study showed that the production site and the postharvest treatments had a significant influence on rind pitting incidences and total electrolyte leakage.
Mothapo, M.J., Mathaba, N., Mafeo, T.P. and Mphahlele, R.R. (2018). Effect of production site and postharvest treatments on the incidence of rind pitting and chemical properties of 'Benny' sweet orange. Acta Hortic. 1201, 107-114
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2018.1201.15
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2018.1201.15
rind pitting, electrolyte leakage, weight loss percentage, sweet orange
English

Acta Horticulturae