What was it all about?
Many Honey Gold mango growers experience reduced profitability from low packouts of premium grade fruit.
This project involved three main research streams…
- Analysing the types of defects causing fruit to be downgraded at the packing shed and at the market
- Evaluating heat sums as a means of forecasting harvest date
- Investigating the causes of under skin browning, a leading cause of downgrading.
A huge amount of data was gathered that provided a better understanding of producing quality Honey Gold fruit.
Key findings from the research included…
- The analysis of downgraded fruit revealed major regional, seasonal and farm differences in the amount and cause of downgrades. Producers are advised to make their own analysis to put fixes in place.
- A heat sum of 1500 units from the time of initial fruit set (full flowering) provides a good guide to when Honey Gold are likely to be commercially ready for harvest, but growers still need to make their own evaluation of when to harvest.
- Many factors were ruled out as causes of under skin browning with results showing that a combination of delaying fruit cooling for at least two days before transport combined with the use of soft inserts can reduce incidence.
