List of Maturity Indices of Fruits and Vegetables - AgriBooks

List of Maturity Indices of Fruits and Vegetables – AgriBooks

June 10, 2022 no responses

Maturity Indices or Maturity Index or Harvesting Index: The factors for determining the harvesting of horticulture commodities according to consumer purpose and type of commodity.

Maturity Indices or Maturity Index or Harvesting Index is of two type

Physiological Maturity: Attainment of final stage of biological function by a plant part or the plant as a whole. (When a plant or plant parts will continue ontogeny even if detached). Tomato, watermelon, musk melon and all fruit harvest at physiological maturity.
Horticultural Maturity: The stage of development of a plant or plant part, which possesses the necessary pre requisites for utilization by consumer for a particular purposes and it depends on the particular crop. Most of vegetable harvested at horticulture maturity.

Determination of Harvest Maturity Indices

Computational Methods: i) Calendar Date ii) Days from full bloom to harvest (DFFB) iii) Mean heat units iv) T-stage
Physical Methods: i) Fruit retention strength ii) Fruit size and surface morphology iii) Weight iv) Specific gravity v) Colour (Skin, flesh and seed) vi) Flesh firmness
Chemical Methods:
i) Titrable acidity ii) TSS/Acid ratio iii) Total soluble solids (TSS) iv) Sugars (Total and reducing) v) Sugar/Acid ratio vi) Bioelectrical conductance vii) Starch content viii) Starch-Iodine test
Physiological Methods: i) Respiration rate ii) Ethylene evaluation rate

List of Maturity Indices of Fruits and Vegetables

Maturity Indices / Maturity index / Harvesting index	Fruits / Vegetables
Calendar Date	All fruits
DFFB	All fruits and Radish
Mean Heat Units	Apple, pear, grape, mango, ber, litchi and many vegetables
T-Stage	Apple
Size	All fruits, beans, carrot, cucumber, cherry, asparagus and cauliflower
Surface Morphology	Grape (Cuticle formation), banana and litchi
Specific Gravity	Cherries, mango and ber
Fruit Retention Strength	Apple
Colour (Surface)	All fruit, muskmelon and tomato
(Seed)	Apple, Aonla and pear
(Flesh)	Mango, papaya, watermelon and muskmelon
TSS	All fruit, tomato and melons
Firmness	Pome and stone fruits, beans, lettuce and muskmelon
Juice Content	Citrus
Acidity and Sugar/Acid Ratio	Pomegranate, citrus, Grape, papaya and kiwi fruit
TSS/Acid Ratio	Grape and citrus
Sugars	Pome, stone fruits and grape
Astringency (Tannin)	Persimmon and dates
Oil Content	Avocado
Respiration and Ethylene Evolution Rate	Apple and pears
Aroma	Jackfruit
Tapka, Specific gravity	Mango
Tapping	Watermelon, Jackfruit
Netting	Muskmelon
Half slip stage, Full slip stage	Muskmelon
Flatenning of spines	Pineapple

Maturity indices of fruits on the basis of TSS

Fruits	Minimum TSS%
Grape	18-22
Kiwifruit	6.5
Mango	18-20
Muskmelon	11-17
Water Melon	11-13
Papaya	11.5
Peach	10
Pear	13
Pineapple	12-14
Plum	12
Pomegranate	14-16
Strawberry	7-10
Watermelon	8-13

Maturity indices of important vegetables

Vegetables	Maturity Indices
Asparagus	Spear length (5-8 inches)
Bean	Uniformity in size and maturity and firmness
Broccoli	Compact flower heads, no open flower
Cabbage	Head solidity
Cauliflower	Head size and condition
Carrot	Fruit size
Radish	Days from planting
Garlic and onion	Top dry, neck tissues begin to soften
Cucumber	shape, size, colour and turgidity
Muskmelon	Soluble solids, firmness, shape, ground and flesh colour
Watermelon	Weight(uniformity), flesh colour(75% red), soluble solids (10% or more), gives dull sound when tapped
Potato	Drying of foliage
Sweet potato	Senescence of vines
Tomato	Development of two or more seed cavities, ground colour
Brinjal	Immature, glossy skin, 40days from flowering
Peas	Pods well filled but not faded in colour
Okra	Pod 2-4" long, not fibrous, tips of pods pliable