![]() The fruits were immediately brought to the laboratory for analysis. In August 2021, ripe pawpaw fruits were harvested by gently shaking the branches of the trees, while nearly mature but still unripe fruits were plucked from the same trees on the same day. Materials and methods 2.1 Fruit samples Ripe and unripe pawpaw fruits were harvested from eight-year-old seedling trees of wild origin growing in a butterfly garden near Eckles Hall on the University of Missouri campus, Columbia, Missouri. These insights into the color and textural properties of ripening pawpaw fruits will be helpful to identify attributes to monitor fruit ripeness to prevent fruit loss as interest in the crop increases. This research aims to investigate the textural properties and the color of both ripe and unripe pawpaw fruits, and to test the correlations between the color, textural properties, and total soluble solids content to gain insights on the potential use of noninvasive indicators for pawpaw fruit ripeness. 7,8 However, the correlations between noninvasive ripeness indicators like color and invasive indicators like texture and soluble solids content have not been studied to confirm the general notion that color is not a good indicator of pawpaw fruit ripeness. Further, the ripening of the fruit has been reported to be characterized by a loss of the green color intensity, reduction in the hardness, and increases in the soluble solids content and volatile aroma compounds. During ripening, the fruit peduncle (portion linking the fruit to the stem of the tree) softens leading to the fall of fruit from the tree when mature. 7 To harvest pawpaw fruits, the pawpaw tree is given a gentle shake to allow ripe fruits to fall by themselves to the ground. Unripe pawpaw fruits have been found to remain unripe even after comingling with ripe pawpaw fruits, suggesting a low sensitivity to ethylene. Unlike climacteric fruits like banana which can be harvested unripe and allowed to ripen over time, pawpaw fruits are best harvested when ripe. ![]() Several cultivars of the North American pawpaw have recently been selected for their excellent fruit characteristics, 3 however, no objective ripeness indicators have been developed, such as those established for fruits like banana, mango, and apple. 1,2 To date, the fruit has not been commercialized or standardized as a horticultural crop. The pawpaw fruit has remained underutilized primarily due to its short shelf life, and the darkening of the skin after harvesting. The fruit of the pawpaw tree is known to be the largest edible fruit native to the United States. Introduction The North American pawpaw ( Asimina triloba Dunal) is a unique member of the Annonaceae family that grows in the temperate region of the world. These findings will help farmers and processors to harvest and process pawpaw fruits at the right time to minimize postharvest losses. The correlations established in this study provide new insights farmers could use commercially available portable color and near-infrared Brix meters to determine the maturity of pawpaw fruits. The fruit skin color a* values (degree of greenness), skin hue angle and total soluble solids content can be used as non-invasive indicators of pawpaw ripeness. The skin hue angles had strong positive correlations with hardness ( r = 0.86), cohesiveness ratio ( r = 0.74) and chewiness ( r = 0.86), and a strongly negative correlation with total soluble solids ( r = −0.91). Also, there were strong negative correlations between the fruit skin color a* values and the hardness ( r = −0.87), chewiness ( r = −0.86), and cohesiveness ratio ( r = −0.73), and a strongly positive correlation with total soluble solids ( r = 0.90). The ripe fruits had a hardness of 2.2 ± 0.5 kg-force, similar to the hardness of green ripe mangoes but harder than green ripe bananas, and the unripe fruits had a hardness of 68.2 ± 10.9 kg-force. The results show statistically significant differences in the textural properties of the unripe and ripe fruits. In this study, the color of the skin and the pulp of the fruit, as well as the textural properties of unripe and ripe fruit harvested from wild trees were evaluated. Over the years, the fruit has remained underutilized with limited published data on the properties of the fruit. The North American pawpaw ( Asimina triloba Dunal) fruit is the largest edible fruit native to the United States.
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