The colour of papaya fruit flesh is determined largely by the presence of carotenoid pigments. Red-fleshed papaya fruit contain lycopene, whilst this pigment is absent from yellow-fleshed fruit. The conversion of lycopene (red) to beta-carotene (yellow) is catalysed by lycopene beta-cyclase. This present study describes the cloning and functional characterization of two different genes encoding...

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...

Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to play critical regulatory roles in model plants, such as Arabidopsis, rice, and maize. However, the presence of lncRNAs and how they function in fleshy fruit ripening are still largely unknown because fleshy fruit ripening is not present in the above model plants. Tomato is the model system for fruit ripening studies due to its dramatic...

Breaker stage fruit (cvs 901 and Bobcat) were subjected to different types of physical damage: 3 impacts of a steel ball (67 g) from a height of 33, 66 or 99 cm, 8 impacts of the ball from 99 cm, or dropping the fruit once 1 m onto a hard surface. Fruit were then held at 20 C until full red, sanitized, sliced and stored at 5 C. Damaged fruit were less firm than undamaged fruit when ripe. Slice ...

To assess the response of low consumers of fruit and vegetables to a nutrition education intervention programme, data were collected from 104 adults on attitudinal variables related to 'eating more fruit, vegetables and vegetable dishes'. Questionnaires (based on the theory of planned behaviour) assessing perceived barriers to increasing fruit and vegetable consumption were administered before ...

Peroxidase (EC 1.11.1.7)-mediated stiffening of cell walls within the fruit skin of tomato is hypothesized to regulate fruit growth. However, to date, there is no experimental evidence demonstrating that peroxidase affects the mechanical properties of skin tissue. Here, the mechanical properties of skin strips excised from a range of fruits at different ages were determined using an 'Instron' u...

OBJECTIVE To examine the effectiveness of two methods of increasing fruit and fruit juice intake in pregnancy: midwives' advice and vouchers exchangeable for juice. DESIGN Pregnant women were randomly allocated to three groups: a control group, who received usual care; an advice group, given advice and leaflets promoting fruit and fruit juice consumption; and a voucher group, given vouchers e...

The additive and interactive effect of habit strength in the explanation of young adults' fruit consumption was studied within the context of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Additionally, behavioural and control beliefs were modelled as predictors of profile membership based on current fruit consumption, motivation and habit strength towards fruit consumption. Cross-sectional data were a...

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...

OBJECTIVE The present study examined associations of several home and neighbourhood environmental variables with fruit consumption and explored whether these associations were mediated by variables derived from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and by habit strength. DESIGN Data of the Dutch GLOBE study on household and neighbourhood environment, fruit intake and related factors were used...