Harvesting Indices of Strawberries in Thailand

Abstract

Tioga strawberries of 4 different-colored stages were harvested from Intonon area in the cooler month of December. 1982. Their quality criteria were determined right after sorting at the lntanon Station. The remaining berries were air-shipped to lab in Bangkok for study at daily interval. Another batch of different stages of berries similar to the December crop was studied in the warmer month of March, 1983. It was found that after harvest all strawberries developed color rapidly. those of 21 -40% red color when harvested deloped color to an acceptable condition of over 90%) color within 2 days. The March crop had a slightly faster rate of color development, it is faster than the December crop by approximately half a day. More advanced stage of strawberries. the 61-80% colerl in the December harvest had higher SS than others by only 1 .O'%. Those of March had slightly lower SS than the December by about 0.5% The younger stage of 0-20% color strawberries tended to have higher acid content than other stages in the cooler month crop. Their difference in this respect between the two months was less than 0.0:3% in favor of the hotter month. The SS/ TA ratios of the cooler month strawberries are higher than those of the warmer month by lo;. It is suggested along the support of organoleptic evaluation that strawberries of above 41% color of either months possessed acceptable eating quality right after harvest. The younger stage of 21-40% color needed 3 days after harvest to attain such quality. Strawberries are firmer in the younger stages. They also had greater firmness in the cool month crop. Four days after harvest fruit firmness of the cool and hot month crops was different by 0.55 to 0.86 kg/cm2. Weight losses increased in relation with time. On the third day after harvest. the losses amounted to 6% for the December crop. while that for the warmer month was 9%. The apparent losses were fruit losses due to mechanical and biological injuries. The former factor played a bigger role due to human problems which could be alleviated with "Tender Loving Care" practices.