Maturity index

By: Mrs. Siti Fairuz Yusoff

Introduction
• Maturity stage at harvest will affect the
produce quality.
• Why?
-effect on fruit
-effect on vegetables
• What happen if mishandling at harvesting
stage?
Plan from the beginning
• Know when to harvest & to market
• Must plan:
1. Consuming type (eaten raw/processed) &
when to distribute
2. Contact buyer/wholesaler prior to sell. So, we
can sell the produce at optimum price at the
correct harvesting time.
3. Plan harvesting operation: time to harvest,
labor needed, harvesting tools and
transportation type.
4. Able to monitor the whole harvesting process.
 Maturity
• Determination of maturity
- visual/appearance: color, size, shape,
- Physical: weight, texture, smell, sound & relative density
- Chemical: acid, sugar, starch, pH, nutrition &
antioxidants
- Computation: Date of planting, Days after transplanting
/flowering
- Physiology: Respiration process
• Maturity types
- Physiology
- Commercial
 Produce category
Homework • Climacteric
- Examples?

• Non-climacteric
- Examples?
 Physiological maturity
The plant part continue to develop even after detached from the
mother plant; mature fruits
EARLY GROWTH DIE
GROWTH MATURATION RIPENING SENESCENCE  
               
SPROUT  
Bean sprout  
  STEM & LEAF  
Asparagus, lettuce, spinach,
  cabbage, water spinach  
   
  INFLORESCENCES  
Broccoli, artichoke,
  cauliflower  
   
  Young fruit (Partially develop)  
  Cucumber, okra, nuts, corn  
   
  Mature fruit  
Banana, mango, sapodila,
  jackfruit, durian  
   
  Ripe fruit  
Papaya, mangosteen, rambutan,
          durian, starfruit, passion fruit    
Commercial maturity/horticultural
maturity
• The stage of development when a plant part
possesses the necessary characteristics for use by
consumers
• Happen at any physiological stage
Eg.
Mango fruit
Harvest stage: young stage
Consume as: pickle, salad (kerabu mangga)

Papaya fruit
Harvest stage: mature fruit but not ripe
Consume as: pickle, cooking (somtam) or long distance
market
• Harvest at mature
a. Onions: drying & collapse of the neck/green leafy
part fall down
b. Potato: plant above ground death, development
of periderm
• Harvest before mature
a. Leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, pak choy)
b. Cucumber: reach maximum size & soft seed
c. Asparagus: before the flower bud open
d. Beansprout: germination
Horticultural maturity
in relation to
developmental stage
 Index maturity
• A measurement scale that can be used to
determine maturity degree of particular
commodity.
• Importance:
a. Marketing strategy
b. Efficient use of labor resources
c. Trade regulation
Determination of maturity

Determination of maturity

C.
A. Physical B. Chemical
Physiological
 Determination of maturity: Physical
1. Color
• Color changes in accordance to maturity stage is varied
for each commodity
• By observation/using chromameter (interpreted color
precisely in value involving:
i. Lightness
ii. Chroma
iii. Hue

Example: tomato, chili, papaya,

rambutan, mango, starfruit
1. a* + b*

Mustard
• L*= 23.41
• a*= -43.21
• b*= 20.35

Grapes
• L*= 30.42
• a*= 38.61
• b*= -35.12

2. L* + a*
2. Texture
• Change from firm to soft (fruit ripening).
• Turn to hard and fibrous (vegetables)
Eg. Okra, long bean, green beans
• Firmness can be measured by Universal
testing machines (newton) or texture
analyzer.
3. Size, weight, shape & morphology
• Increase as the growth stage increase, plateau
when reach certain stage
• Matured fruit: full shape, outer skin more firm
• Torn fruit: bottom site of torn wider (tapak duri
menjadi lebar)
• Outer appearance: dryness of the stamens
(benang sari) on banana, shining loss of
watermelon skin
What are the criteria to make sure
watermelon is ready to harvest?

How do we know durian is ripe? List 6-7

criteria
4. Smell
• Sweet smell
• Mango, durian, cantaloupe, jackfruit,
cempedak, bacang, banana.
5. Relative density, RD or specific gravity (ketumpatan
bandingan)
• Certain fruits increased their gravity
(weight/volume)
• Fast method
• Example:
-Unripe mango, RD < 1.0 (weight < volume) & float in
water
-Ripe mango, RD >1.0 (weight > volume) & sink in
water
• However, not all ripe fruits float in water especially
hollow fruits
 Determination of maturity: Chemical
1. Sugar content
• Measure the total soluble solid in juice extract
• Mature & ripe fruits contain high sugar
• In certain fruits, sugar is higher but starch is
lower
• Suitable to pluck when sugar content reach
6.2% (for mango) & 8-10% (cantaloupe)
• Measured by refractometer/refraktometer.
2. Starch content
• Accumulation of starch is high during growth &
developmental stage especially in climacterics.
• It becomes saturated when matured.
• Once matured, the starch/carbohydrate will
convert into sugar. Sugar higher & starch lower
• Measured by iodine test.
• However, starch determination by quantitatively
is complicated to carried out at the farm.
3. The total of acid
• Measured by organic acid in particular fruits
• Considered only dominant organic acid: citric
acid, malic acid, fumaric acid etc.
eg. Citric acid (lemon), malic acid (pineapple,
apple, pear).
• Method: titration using phenolphthalein as
indicator
TCA cycle
 Fruit type Dominant organic acid
Banana  
Starfruit  
Mangosteen  
Mango  
Papaya  
Grapes  
Spinach  
Blueberry  
 Determination of maturity:
Physiology
Homework
• Growth involve cell divisions and cell
enlargement until final size.
• Maturity begins when cell enlarge up to
maximum size
• Both growth and maturity also called
development phase
• Senescence is an anabolic process (synthesis)
of biochemical to catabolic (degradation) lead
to tissue death
• Pertumbuhan melibatkan pembahagian sel dan
seterusnya sel berkembang sehingga bersaiz akhir.
• Kematangan biasanya bermula semasa sel
berkembang hingga proses pemasakan. Pertumbuhan
dan kematangan juga dikenali sebagi fasa
perkembangan.
• Penuaan didefinisikan sebagai tempoh proses anabolik
(sintesis) biokimia menjadi katabolik (degradasi) yang
menyebabkan tisu menjadi tua dan akhirnya mati.
• Kadar respirasi memberikan ramalan yang lebih tepat
tentang kesesuaian masa menuai mengikut tujuan-
tujuan tertentu. Komoditi klimakterik menghasilkan
kadar respirasi yang lebih tinggi apabila buah masak
berbanding dengan komoditi yang bukan klimakterik.