Development of advanced mechanical techniques to phenotype raspberry and blackberry texture

Raspberry and blackberry fruit quality is a determinant for consumers' choice, thus for the crop profitability. Raspberry and blackberry fruit quality is, as for most of berries, highly correlated with appearance, texture and flavour. Berries perishability, due to water loss, morphological fragility, softening, and presence of pathogens like botrytis, still remains a major problem limiting raspberry and blackberry marketability. Therefore, high firmness and prolonged shelf life are the two key quality traits of a successful genotype. Reliable analytical firmness assessment of raspberry and blackberry is still challenging due to fruit morphology heterogeneity. The aim of this study was to develop and to fine tune two complementary methodologies to fully assess raspberry and blackberry texture: a destructive penetration test and a non-destructive compression test. The analyses, assessed at harvest on ripe fruits and postharvest explained high variation among tested raspberry and blackberry cultivars with significant cultivar dependent patterns. The two methodologies allowed to complementary profile raspberry texture. Furthermore, a clear relationship among texture mechanical parameters and morphological traits was elucidated.