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The ripeness at harvest of stone fruit should ensure the best balance between consumer satisfaction and ease logistic management, even if this compromise is not easy to achieve. In fact, as consequence of too early harvesting, an increased consumer dissatisfaction with peach and nectarine fruit is frequently observed. The use of the new non-destructive vis/NIR based, ripening index of absorbance difference (IAD) in planta, may help to overcome this problem. In our experiments, the IAD gave an objective measure of the nectarine ripening stage and showed a linear trend during stage 3 (S3) of fruit development, that did not appear affected nor by the climatic conditions of different years, neither by the training systems. The combined field monitoring of fruit ripening (IAD) and growth (mm) during stage 3 of nectarine development allowed two-three weeks advance predictions for harvest date and yield with low errors. The new approach also appeared a more reliable method in predicting harvest date than the till now used growing degree heat unit accumulation at 30 days after full bloom (growing degree days GDD30). The model developed in the present work offers promises for future real applications under field conditions, to obtain early objective and precise predictions for harvest date and yield. Moreover, taking into account fruit ripening stage at harvest, would allow an increase in fruit quality and improve fruit management during post-harvest. |
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