The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of the harvest point of Chiripá peach on the storage potential and sensory quality. Fruits were harvested in four ripening stages and stored at 0ºC ± 0,5ºC during 42 days. The evaluated characteristics (each 7 days) were: fruit firmness, titratable acidity, physiological disorders (internal browing and woolly breakdown) and sensory analysis. These analyses were done after 24 and 72 hours shelf life. Peaches harvested in less mature ripening stages showed higher fruit firmness and higher incidence of woolly breakdown than fruit harvested in more mature stages, but these fruits showed the best sensory quality.
ripening; physiological disorders; harvest
