0000000000208123
AUTHOR
C. Di Miceli
Instrumental and sensory evaluation of eating quality of peaches and nectarines
The influence of flesh firmness on consumer acceptance and its relationship with total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TTA) and sensory analysis were studied for fruits of ‘September Sun’ and ‘Sweet September’ (low acid) peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch), and ‘Maria Dolce’ (low acid) and ‘Venus’ nectarine (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch, var. nucipersica) cultivars. Sensory descriptors, assessed by a short-trained panel, were firmness, sweetness, sourness, aroma, acceptability. Different stages of fruit firmness did not always result in significant differences of TSS, TTA and their ratio, but the panel was able to discriminate fruit ripening stages, in terms of fruit firmness, aroma …
New selections of Prunus persica for low chill Mediterranean climate areas
In the late 1990s, CREA and the University of Palermo initiated a peach-breeding program in order to select new genotypes suitable for the fruit growing areas of southern Italy. These regions are generally characterized by short, mild winters and long, hot, dry summers. International cultivars grown in continental environments often have problems related to climatic limitations, such as the failure to satisfy the winter chill requirements. About 40 different peach and nectarine cultivars with different fruit characteristics (size, skin over colour, flesh firmness, sugar content, titratable acidity, absence of split-pit) were used as parents in a breeding program by CREA. The best selections…
Physiological and Technical Aspects of Cactus Pear [Opuntia ficus-indica(L.) Mill.] Double Rellowering and Out-of-Season Winter Fruit Cropping
Abstract A commercial cactus pear plantation in Sicily, Italy was manipulated to induce late cropping. The spring flush of flowers and cladodes were removed as was the second induced bloom of flowers and cladodes. The third induced bloom was harvested for a late out-of-season crop of cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica Mill.). The double removal induced a third flush of flowers and cladodes during late August with a fruit production that ripened the following winter (to March). The number of flowers per fertile cladode was halved after the double removal and the length of the fruit development period increased from 100-120 days to 160-190 days for the out-of-season crop. Polyethylene covering…