Assessment of apple skin thickness by instrumental and histological approaches on a large range of apple cultivars
Laurens F.; Bernard C.; Chevalier M.; Cogne N. and Tellier M.
5th International Postharvest Symposium . Volume of Abstract . Verona, Italy 6-11 June 2004, p.120
2004
บทคัดย่อ
Assessment of apple skin thickness by instrumental and histological approaches on a large range of apple cultivars
Skin thickness is a factor which can depreciate dramatically apple fruit taste. There is a very high variability for this trait amongst apple cultivars. Some unpublished studies report that many consumers have got the feeling that skin of most of the new released scab resistant cultivars is sensorially thicker than that of classical commercial cultivars – generally susceptible to apple scab. The first aim of the study has been to set up methods and process to assess for the skin thickness. Eight commercial cultivars and six scab resistant hybrids and cultivars have been assessed by both penetrometric and histological studies. The Force/deformation curves obtained penetrometry by using a texture analyser (TA.XT Plus by SMS) show slight differences between cultivars and between coloured and uncoloured sides within a fruit. For histological observations, various fixing and staining methods have been tested: they give complementary information on the thickness of the cuticle, the structure of the epidermis and the underlying parenchyma cells and their wall thickness. Statistical analyses have been achieved to quantify the effect of the controlled factors (cultivar, fruit side) on the measured traits and to answer the question: do the scab resistant cultivars have a thicker skin?