The effect of ripening stage on fruit quality after storage of yellow pitaya

Some physicochemical properties and flavour quality were determined in yellow pitaya (Selenicereus megalanthus) fruits harvested either at the beginning of ripening (colour break), or when they reached good eating quality (advanced colour stage), and then stored for up to 4 weeks at either 10 or 20 degrees C. Colour-break fruits stored at 10 degrees C ripened only after being transferred to 20 degrees C. During ripening such fruits attained the physical properties of fruits ripened on the plant, but they contained significantly lower concentrations of soluble sugars and acidity, and had an inferior taste. Fruits harvested at the advanced colour stage and stored at 10 or at 20 degrees C were also inferior to those of freshly-harvested fruits with respect to soluble sugars and acidity as well as taste quality, but their physical properties changed only slightly during storage. in both groups of fruit water was translocated from the peel to the pulp during storage. The lower weight loss, higher soluble sugar concentrations, and lower susceptibility to pathogens of advanced colour fruits as compared with colour-break fruits, suggest that the former stage is the correct one for harvest. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.