POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF MANGO CULTIVARS OF EARLY, MIDDLE AND LATE SEASONS

Abstract

Postharvest behavior of 12 mango (Mangifera indica L.) cultivars, five of early (‘Edward’, ‘Diplomático’, ‘Ah-Ping’, ‘Van Dyke’, ‘Haden’), three of middle (‘Manila Rosa’, ‘Tommy Atkins’, ‘Kent’) and four of late season (‘Osteen’, ‘Palmer’, ‘Fabián’, ‘Keitt’) was evaluated. Cvs. ‘Haden’, ‘Tommy Atkins’, ‘Kent’ ‘Keitt’ were considered as commercial controls. The fruits were stored simulating marketing conditions at 20 °C and 87 % RH during 12 d, and physical, chemical and physiological evaluations were conducted during this period. Fruit size and weight varied from 586 g ('Osteen') to almost 250 g (‘Diplomático’, ‘Van Dyke’ and ‘Manila Rosa’). The lowest weight loss (< 4 %) was presented by all late season cultivars except ‘Kent’. At the end of the storage, fruit firmness was higher in ‘Ah-Ping’ and ‘Kent’ with 2.3 and 2.6 kgf respectively. ‘Ah-Ping’, ‘Kent’ and ‘Fabián’ developed an attractive flesh color (°Hue=78) and a soluble solids content up to 12.5 °Brix. ‘Edward’, ‘Ah-Ping’, ‘Fabián’ and ‘Palmer’ were the cultivars with competitive quality fruits compared to the controls.