Soluble starch synthase (SS) is one of the key enzymes involved in amylopectin biosynthesis in plants. However, no information is currently available about this gene family in the important fruit crop banana. Herein, we characterized the function of MaSSIII-1 in amylopectin metabolism of banana fruit and described the putative role of the other MaSS family members. Firstly, starch granules, sta...

application of edible coatings to enhance storage life of fresh fruit has recently been under considerable attention. this experiment was conducted in order to explore the effect of chitosan coating and storage temperature on the postharvest life of pomegranate (punica granatum l.) fruit. therefore, pomegranate fruits ‘rabbab-e-neyriz’ were dipped in 0, 1 and 2% aqueous chitosan solutions, air ...

Pruning is crucial to balance productivity and fruit quality in blueberry orchards. Slight, conventional and severe pruning treatments were applied on 4and 5-year old bluberry plants cultivar ‘Brigitta’ to evaluate their effect on yield, leaf area, gas exchange and fruit load as driver of fruit quality traits. Yield and berries per plant decreased with increasing pruning severity, whereas canop...

This study explored the extent to which schoolchildren purchased precut and bagged fruits and vegetables from a mobile fruit vendor (frutero). During 14 days in fall 2008, a frutero sold fruits and vegetables at the entrance of an elementary school; 59% of the frutero's 233 consumers of 248 items were elementary-school students. With each successive day, an average of 1 additional bag of fruits...

Postharvest quality in stone fruits is ultimately defined in terms of consumer satisfaction, and includes appearance, texture and flavor, and nutritional value and safety. These result from all decisions and practices beginning with site and cultivar selection, and extending through cultural practices and all stages of postharvest handling. The development of high quality fruit is influenced by...

Tomato fruit growth and composition depend on both genotype and environment. This paper aims at studying how fruit phenotypic responses to changes in carbon availability can be influenced by genotype, and at identifying genotype-dependent and -independent changes in gene expression underlying variations in fruit growth and composition. We grew a parental line (Solanum lycopersicum) and an intro...

Mandarin hybrids were treated with wax and resin coatings having differing oxygen permeabilities. After storage for 7 days at 21 °C, fruit with coatings having O2 permeability 1.1×10 mol m s m Pa were rated by a sensory panel as markedly less fresh than fruit with higher permeability coatings. These low-permeability coatings were those composed mainly of shellac and wood resin. The flavor chang...