Hort. Sci. (Prague), 2024, 51(2):152-159 | DOI: 10.17221/72/2023-HORTSCI

Effect of ripening temperature on early-season ‘Hass’ avocado fruit exocarp colour development and pigmentation during ripeningOriginal Paper

December Simphiwe Sibeko1, Kingsly Shikwambana2, Nhlanhla Mathaba ORCID...2
1 School of Agricultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, Nelspruit, South Africa
2 School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Limpopo, Polokwane, South Africa

South African ‘Hass’ avocado fruit harvested early season are vulnerable to colour desynchronisation with softening during ripening, reducing their international and local market aesthetic value. So far, research has proven that ‘Hass’ avocado fruit exocarp colour desynchronization is an early season conundrum. However, there is insufficient literature on underlying factors causing exocarp colour desynchronisation. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the ripening temperature effect on early season ‘Hass’ avocado fruit exocarp colour development and pigments during ripening. Early season ‘Hass’ avocado fruit were stored at 5.5 °C for 28 days thereafter, ripened at 16, 21 and 25 °C and evaluated for firmness, visual and objective colour (L*, C* and h°), total chlorophyll and anthocyanin content. The results showed that the visual colour of fruit ripened at 25 °C was significantly higher compared to 21 and 16 °C after 2 and 4 ripening days. This study found that ripening temperature had no significant influence on chlorophyll degradation. However, fruit ripened at 25 °C accumulated significantly higher exocarp anthocyanin concentration compared to lower ripening temperatures. In conclusion, ripening early season ‘Hass’ avocado fruit at 25 °C resulted in improved exocarp colour development and anthocyanin accumulation.

Keywords: anthocyanin; chlorophyll; chromaticity; firmness; visual colour

Received: July 4, 2023; Revised: October 9, 2023; Accepted: October 13, 2023; Prepublished online: May 29, 2024; Published: June 27, 2024  Show citation

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Sibeko DS, Shikwambana K, Mathaba N. Effect of ripening temperature on early-season ‘Hass’ avocado fruit exocarp colour development and pigmentation during ripening. Hort. Sci. (Prague). 2024;51(2):152-159. doi: 10.17221/72/2023-HORTSCI.
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