Muhammad Arshad, Muhammad Shahnawaz, Syeda Shahkeela, Maqsood Hussain, Mukhtar Ahmad and Sadat Sher Khan
Understanding the significance and level of variation for physical properties in apple fruit with respect to preharvest factors is important while having manual or mechanistic interaction for efficient conveyance, categorization and designing of processing equipments. In the light of previous research studies, importance of physical properties i.e. color, size, weight, density, etc. of apple fruit is elaborated and influence of selected preharvest factors i.e. variety, tree age, fruit position within tree canopy, on the properties is discussed in this study. It has been noted that the properties carry special contribution while optimizing and reforming the growing and postharvest handling procedures to ensure good quality of fresh produce at the gates of consumer market and processing unit. Further, the preharvest factors have special significance as can potentially influence the physical properties of apple fruit. The ignorance of the factors yields result in deterioration and heterogeneous quality of fresh fruit and its processed products. This necessitates the consideration and understanding of the fruit physical parameters and preharvest tree management factors while managing the orchard, postharvest handling and selection of the raw material for further processing. Moreover, the cumulative or interactive influence of the preharvest factors on post harvest quality properties of apple fruit is required to be researched and reported in the future.
