New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Improvement in kiwifruit storage life
caused by withholding early-season irrigation
J. B. REID1
D. W. BRASH2
I. B. SORENSEN1
B. BYCROFT2
1New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food
Research Limited
Hawke's Bay Research Centre
P.O. Box 85
Hastings, New Zealand
2New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food
Research Limited
Levin Horticultural Research Centre
Private Bag 4005
Levin, New Zealand
Abstract We investigated whether irrigation can affect the
storage potential of kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.F.
Liang et A.R. Ferguson). Two experiments were carried out on mature kiwifruit
vines growing in a deep silt loam near Gisborne, New Zealand. Experiment 1
(1990/91) mainly compared the effects of irrigation applied to replace
different fractions of the shortfall between the weekly totals of potential
evapotranspiration and rainfall. It also included a treatment in which
early-season irrigation was withheld. Experiment 2 (1991/92) compared the
effects of withholding irrigation at different times during the season. Fruit
firmness was measured by penetrometer at intervals during storage. Withholding
irrigation for the entire season improved fruit firmness during storage, but
was accompanied by a significant depression in fruit size. Withholding
irrigation until midsummer resulted in only mild water stress (fruit size was
unaffected) but increased by c. 30 days the time taken for the firmness of
stored fruit to decrease to 1 kgf or 0.2 MPa (the critical value for market
acceptability). The mechanisms by which irrigation affected fruit storage
properties are unclear.
Keywords Actinidia deliciosa; drought; fruit firmness;
irrigation; kiwifruit; fruit storage; water deficits
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 1996, Vol. 24:
21-28
0114-0671/96/2401-0021 $2.50/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1996
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