Historical document
Avocado maturity: a review of harvest indices and how they relate to postharvest quality (AV06014)
Publication date: October 1, 2006
Delivery Partner: HortResearch
This is a final research report from Hort Innovation’s historical archives. Please note that as these reports may date back as far as the 1990s, the content and recommendations within them may be superseded by more recent research.
The Australian avocado industry, at the time, was aiming to improve fruit quality so that 90 per cent of fruit met or exceeded consumer expectations by 2010. Maturity was one factor that could influence the ability to meet this target. This report reviewed the physiological changes in the fruit during maturation, the influence of maturity on fruit quality, maturity standards in the main avocado producing countries, and technologies for assessing maturity. This information could then be used by key industry groups to develop maturity-based strategies for improving fruit quality.
Key recommendations:
This report demonstrated that maturity affects the postharvest quality of avocados. However, it remained to be established if maturity was a key cause of poor quality in Australian markets, or if it was caused by other pre- and postharvest factors. This report also highlighted that the current minimum dry matter standard has a number of limitations, especially in prediction of the sensory quality of avocados. Despite these limitations, the dry matter standard was better than no standard, and its utilisation within industry was urged to be continually refined and evaluated until new maturity standards were developed.
This historical project was a strategic levy investment in the Hort Innovation Avocado Fund
© 2026 Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited.
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