Influence of weight and type of planting material on fruit quality and its heterogeneity in pineapple [Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill]

Abstract

Cultural practices can affect the quality of pineapple fruits and its variation. The objectives of this study were to investigate (a) effects of weight class and type of planting material on fruit quality, heterogeneity in quality and proportion and yield of fruits meeting European export standards, and (b) the improvement in quality, proportion and yield of fruits meeting export standards when flowering was induced at optimum time. Experiments were conducted in Benin with cvs Sugarloaf (a Perola type) and Smooth Cayenne. In cv. Sugarloaf, experimental factors were weight class of planting material (light, mixed, heavy) and time of flowering induction (farmers', optimum) (Experiment 1). In cv. Smooth Cayenne an additional experimental factor was the type of planting material (hapas, ground suckers, a mixture of the two) (Experiment 2). Fruits from heavy planting material had higher infructescence and fruit weights, longer infructescences, shorter crowns, and smaller crown: infructescence length than fruits from light planting material. The type of planting material in Experiment 2 did not significantly affect fruit quality except crown length: fruits from hapas had shorter crowns than those from ground suckers. Crops from heavy planting material had a higher proportion and yield of fruits meeting export standards than those from other weight classes in Experiment 1 only; also the type of planting material in Experiment 2 did not affect these variates. Heterogeneity in fruit quality was usually not reduced by selecting only light or heavy planting material instead of mixing weights; incidentally the coefficient of variation was significantly reduced in fruits from heavy slips only. Heterogeneity was also not reduced by not mixing hapas and ground suckers. Flowering induction at optimum time increased the proportion and yield of fruits meeting export standards in fruits from light and mixed slip weights and in those from the mixture of heavy hapas plus ground suckers.

Organo-Mineral Fertilization Enhances the Acceptability of Smooth Cayenne Pineapple Fruit (Ananas comosus (L.) Merrill) for European Export and Domestic Consumption in Benin

“…The correlation between the ratio crown-infructescence length with the chemical quality attributes (total solid soluble, pH) is not surprisingly significant. The optimum range for this ratio for pineapple meeting export standards is 0.5-1.5 [22]. Our findings suggest that the ratio crown length: fruit length is not significantly related to physico-chemical quality.…”

“…To compute the percentage of exportable pineapple fruits per treatment, minimum quality criteria for fruits to meet European export standards include: the fruit weight should be between 0.70 and 2.75 kg, the ratio crown: infructescence length should be between 0.5 and 1.5, and total soluble solids (TSS) should be at least 12 Brix [21,22].…”

Trade-Offs of Flowering and Maturity Synchronisation for Pineapple Quality

“…Earlier planting or planting heavier planting material with a narrow weight interval would help producers to obtain fruits with higher infructescence and fruit weights and with lower ratio crown: infructescence length when artificial flowering induction is applied [ 23 ]. Also, later artificial flowering induction based on the developmental status of the plants may help producers to obtain vigorous plants at the moment of flowering induction and consequently fruits with higher infructescence and fruit weights and with lower ratio crown: infructescence length closer to that obtained with natural flowering induction (cf.…”

“…However, AFI could probably constitute a source of poor fruit quality at harvest time when compared with NFI as all plants are induced to flower, no matter their size. Studies showed that there is an association between planting material weight at planting and the number of fruitlets involved in fruit weight (consequently the average fruit weight) at harvest on one hand [ 23 ] and between the plant weight at the moment of AFI and fruit weight at harvest on the other hand [ 18 ]. Thus, plants within a crop that are small at the moment of AFI would produce small fruits.…”

Selective pruning in pineapple plants as means to reduce heterogeneity in fruit quality

“…Heterogeneity in pineapple fruit quality (fruit weight and length attributes) at harvest is clearly associated with heterogeneity in plant vigor at flowering induction time (Fassinou Hotegni et al 2014b ), and consequently cultural practices achieving uniform plant development before flower induction (like planting material grading by size at planting time) have received considerable attention (Bartholomew et al 2003 , Py et al 1987 ). Yet smallholder systems still show a high heterogeneity in quality (Fassinou Hotegni et al 2015 ). The present research focused on the potential of practices applied after flowering induction to reduce the heterogeneity in pineapple fruit quality, i.e., in total fruit (infructescence + crown) weight and length, infructescence weight and length, crown weight and length, the ratio crown length: infructescence length, the total soluble solids (TSS) in the pineapple juice, the juice pH, and the flesh translucency.…”