The relationship between exocarp colour development and pigments of different size ‘Hass’ avocado fruit during ripening

The purpose of this work was to study two groups of statistically different avocado fruit sizes (Persea americana Mill.) small-sized (<200 g) and large-sized (>201 g) and their difference in colour development and pigments (chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanin and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside), in the exocarp during ripening. Fruits were stored at 5.5°C for up to 28 d, then ripened at 25°C. There was no significant difference between the firmness of small and large fruit after 4 d of ripening. We found that after 4 ripening days at 25°C, smaller fruit exhibited a significantly higher visual colour score (5-purple) than large fruit with a lower visual colour score (3-olive green). Exocarps of small fruit displayed significantly lower chlorophyll and carotenoids after day 4 than those of large fruits. The results indicated that the pigments (total anthocyanin and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside) in small fruits were significantly higher than those in large fruits across.