PHYSIOLOGICAL GROWTH AND PHYSICAL INDICATORS

• PHYSICAL INDICATORS
• FLOWER INDUCTION
• Fruit trees have its respective fruiting season. For example,
mangoes are summer fruits, sour fruit bear develops well
during the rainy days, lanzones and rambutan are plenty
during August and September.
• Flower induction is practiced to cause the trees to flower or
earlier than the natural flowering months to bear fruits off-
season. Generally, off-season fruits commands higher price
in the market due to its high demand.
The most commonly induced fruit tree is the mango.
Inducing may start as early as August. Inducing
mangoes to bear flowers is done by spraying the
entire crown with potassium nitrate diluted at desired
concentration.
• 1. condition.
• 2.For successful fruiting, flowers produced in trees
manifested with red ants, scales, mealy bugs, should be
sprayed with insecticides.
• Do not induce trees with heavy load or fruits the previous
season and not fertilized.
 TIPS IN INDUCING TREES TO FLOWER:

3.Be sure trees are of bearing age, at least four years old
under normal growth.
4.Do not induce tree that fruited the previous season, and
have not flushed or have new sets of leaves.
5.Do not spray trees with poor
6.Be sure that before spraying with potassium nitrate, the
flushes or leaf buds have matured as leaves.
• FLOWER INDUCTION OF MANGO
• SMUDGING - Make smoky fire below
the tree canopy and allow smoke to
pass through the foliage for several
days. To produce heavy smoke, place
green grasses on top of combustible
materials such as dry leaves and
coconut husks. It is done continuously
for several days. Discontinue when no
flowers appear two weeks. Repeat this
process one-month to two months after.
CHEMICAL INDUCTION - The
more reliable method of inducing
off-season flowering is by spraying
with potassium nitrate. Besides
being effective, potassium nitrate
is cheaper and forces mangoes to
flower more uniformly. Application
rate is 10 grams per liter of water.
Spray toward the leaves evenly
from the top downward to the
bottom of the canopy.
PHYSIOLOGICAL GROWTH

• Horticultural maturity
• It is a developmental stage of the fruit on the tree, which
will result in a satisfactory product after harvest.
• Physiological maturity
• It refers to the stage in the development of the fruits and
vegetables when maximum growth and maturation has
occurred. It is usually associated with full ripening in the
fruits. The Physiological mature stage is followed by
senescence.
Commercial maturity
It is the state of plant organ required by a market. It
commonly bears little relation to Physiological
maturity and may occur at any stage during
development stage.
• Harvest Maturity
•             It may be defined in terms of Physiological
maturity and horticultural maturity, it is a stage, which will
allow fruits / vegetables at its peak condition when it
reaches to the consumers and develop acceptable flavour
or appearance and having adequate shelf life.
 Criteria of maturity for harvesting fruits and vegetables
Physical Chemical
Fruit
Mango Olive green colour with clear lenticels, Starch content, flesh
shoulder development size sp. gravity, colour
days from fruit set.
BananaSkin colour, drying of leaves of the plant, Pulp/peel ratio, starch
brittleness of floral ends, angularity of the content
fruit, and days from emergence of
inflorescence.
Citrus Colour break of the skin from green to Sugar/acid ratio, TSS
orange, size
Grapes Peel colour, easy separation of berries, TSS 18-12 Thompson
characteristic aroma seedless, 12-14 for
Bangalore Blue,
14-16 for Anab-e-shahi
Apple Colour size Firmness as measured
by pressure tester
Papaya Yellow patch or streaks. Jelliness of the seed,
seed colour
 Time taken from pollination to horticultural maturity
S.No. Vegetables Time to harvest Maturity (days)
1. Ridge gourd 5 -6

2. Squash 7–8

3. Brinjal 25 – 40

4. Okra 4–6

5. Pepper (green stage) 45 – 55

6. Pepper (red stage) 60 -70

7. Pumpkin (mature) 65 – 70

8. Tomato (mature green) 35 – 45

9. Tomato (red ripe stage) 45 – 60

10. Peas 30 – 35
• Skin colour
•             Loss of green colour in citrus and red colour in tomato.
• Shape, size and flavour
•             Sweet corn is harvested at immature stage, smaller cobs
marketed as baby corn. Okra and cow pea are harvested at
mature stage (pre fiber stage). In chilli, bottle gourd, bitter gourd,
cluster beans maturity is related to their size. Cabbage head
and cauliflower curd are harvested before un pleasant flavour.
• Abscission and firmness
• Musk melon should be harvested at the formation of abscission
layer. In cabbage and lettuce should be harvested at firmness
stage.
MATURITY INDEX

• The factors for determining the harvesting of fruits,

vegetables and plantation crops according to consumer’s
purpose, type of commodity, etc and can be judged by
visual means (colour, size, shape), physical means
(firmness, softness), chemical analysis (sugar content,
acid content), computation (heat unit and bloom to
harvest period), physiological method(respiration). These
are indications by which the maturity is judged. Various
index are as Follows;
Maturity and harvesting of Banana
AGE OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE
Crop Crop Age at Harvest
Carabao’ mango 120 days from flower
induction

‘Lakatan’ banana 13 weeks from shooting

Abaca 18-24 months from planting

Cacao 170 days from fruit set; 5-6

months from flowering
Citrus 5-6 months from flowering
Coconut 9 mo. from button (3 cm)
receptivity, 11-12 mo.
from flowering
Coffee 8-9 mo. from flowering
Pechay 45 days from sowing
Pineapple 11-12 mo. from flowering;
23-26 mo. from planting
Radish 60 days from sowing
IMPORTANT OF RECORD KEEPING
 HARVESTING METHOD
• Harvesting
• Separation of the economic yield (whether the whole plant
biomass or the portion of the whole plant biomass) when
crops have reached highest or optimum level of productivity
(physiological maturity onwards).

• Method of Harvesting
a. Pulling b. Twisting c. Using knife
d. Shaking of branches e. Harvesting aids/tools
(ladder,picking pole, catching net, rope)
Application Methods for Fungicides

• i.Spray or mist - when application is by a hand-held

knapsack sprayer for small-scale operations, or a
mechanical spray set up on a moving belt or roller-
conveyor for large-scale commercial operations. Both
systems normally include provision for agitation of the
spray mixture. Spraying should be done to the point of
run-oof to ensure a complete cover of fungicide.
• Drenching - is a simple mechanical re-circulating system in
which the fungicide is pumped in a cascade over produce
passing beneath it on a belt or roller-conveyor. It has the
advantage that there are no spray nozzles to wear away or
become blocked. The combination of reservoir design and a
high flow-rate pump keep the mixture agitated. A
disadvantage of the system is that the high flow-rate and
agitation may cause the fungicide to be dragged out of
suspension and float on the foam generated by the agitation.
It may be necessary to add a non-toxic anti-foam agent to
prevent this happenin
• iii.Dipping - is normally used where small quantities are to
be treated. The fungicide mixture is made up in a small
bath and produce dipped by hand. Excess fungicide is
allowed to drain back into the bath. The fungicide mixture
must of course be agitated frequently by hand. It is
advisable to wear rubber gloves because some people
develop allergic skin reactions to the fungicide mixture.
 iv Smoke or fumigant - is rarely used as an application
method for fungicides. Tecnazene, which is a fungicide as
well as a sprout suppressant, is applied in the form of
volatile granules in long-term Irish potato stores, and
'diphenyl' wraps or pads may be used for citrus.

Extra-regional export markets regularly check on fungicide

and other pesticide residue levels on imported produce and
if the permitted levels are exceeded, the produce is
rejected and a warning given that all produce from that
source must in future comply with the legislation or a total
ban will be implemented.
Hot water treatment

• Although not used for treatment of vegetables and

delicate fruits, hot water immersion of mango and
pawpaw has been shown to help control latent
'Anthracuose' development. The hot water treatment is
usually combined with fungicide application to promote
the most effective control and save additional handling
and equipment.
two main variants of the hot water treatment:

• i.Dip in hot water at 55øC for 5 minutes. Heat injury

can develop when the mangoes are placed in cold
storage after treatment - do not therefore dip in hot
water when fruits are to be stored.
• ii.Dip in hot water at 52øC with Benomyl (Benlate) at
0.1% concentration, for 1 to 3 minutes.
Fumigation and vapour-heat

• Fumigation of fruits was traditionally for control of

disease, as in the case of sulphur dioxide fumigation of
grapes to control Botrytis and other fungus diseases, or
for control of insect pests for quarantine purposes,
principly against fruit flies.
• Quarantine regulations in the USA and Japan require that
certain produce from areas where fruit fly is endemic
must be disinfested on or during importation, by approved
and controlled methods. This was formerly achieved by
fumigation with ethylene dibromide (EDB) or methyl
bromide (MB)
 CROP MATURITY INDICES
• Maturity - determines quality (fruit, flower, vegetable, root, grain,
or pod), and better ripening, storage, marketing and
consumption
In maturity of crops there are two types:
a. Physiological Maturity – the end of development stage of fruits
when
it has developed the ability to ripen normally at harvest.
b. Horticultural or commercial maturity – stage of development
when
the plant part possesses the necessary characteristics required
by the
Fruits and Vegetables
1.Age
Based whole plant, fruit, flower, leaf, pod, etc.
With reference to time of sowing, germination, transplanting, flower
induction, flowering, pollination or fruit set
2.Size or Weight
Large fruit - generally more mature than small one
Two fruits with comparable size - heavier is more mature
3.Change in color
Ground color to a tinge of red/yellow - indication of maturity
Apparent in: cacao, coconut, tomato, papaya, santol, and banana
Mango is overmature at color break on the treeand Vegetables
4.Sound
Watermelon - mature when a dull sound is emitted by
tapping
Immature coconut - will not produce a sound when
shaken.
5.Smell
Durian - ready for harvesting when a slight smell is
detected (S-containing metabolite).
6.Appearance
 Maintaining the Quality of Selected Crops
Banana Tomato Roses Orchids
(expo
rt)
Harvesting Harvesting Harvesting Harvesting

Pre-sorting Transport to Removal of lower Removal of

collection shed leaves (3-5 diseased or
leaflets drying florets
remain)
Trimming Sorting Cutting off stem Cutting off stem
ends ends
Washing Packing Putting stem ends Putting into
to appropriate sealed
solutions (2 polyethylene
o
hrs) bags at 0-5 C
for 1 week
Grading Storage Putting into sealed Putting stem ends
 Evaporat polyethylene into
o
ive bags at 0-5 C appropriate
cooling for 1-2 wks solution
 Cold
storage
Weighing Putting stem ends
into plain
water or
preservation
Fungicide
treatm
ent
Labeling

Packaging

Weighing
Sorting and Grading

Sorting is the process of separating and grouping commodities

according to a set of criteria recognized by the industry or consumer.
The set of criteria are termed standard.

The grade is the unit of classification while the standard defines the
qualityrequirement of each grade. Quality is usuallydefined in terms of
color, size, shape, maturity and amount of defects. In grade, there are
usually 1-5 grades. Fancy, Grade No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 or off-grade or
unclassified. The off-grades are usually left in the field for the animals.
POSTHARVEST FACTORS
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