APS_April2019

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J ournal of the A merican P omological S ociety

Journal of the American Pomological Society 73(2): 82-94 2019

Postharvest Performance of ʻMinneiskaʼ Apple, a Progeny of ʻHoneycrispʼ C indy B.S. T ong 1 , R andolph B eaudry 2 , C arolina C ontreras 2 , C hristopher B. W atkins 3 , J acqueline F. N ock 3 , Z ata V ickers 4 , K athryn Z hang 4 , J ames J. L uby 1 , and D avid B edford 1 Additional index words: disorders, ethylene, firmness, harvest date, redness, soluble solids, starch Abstract  ‘Minneiska’, a cross between ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Minnewashta’ (Zestar! ® ), was the first commercialized prog- eny of the ‘Honeycrisp’ apple. The effects of harvest date and storage under air for 3 and 6 months, and controlled atmosphere (CA) conditions for 4 and 8 months, at 0 °C, on ‘Minneiska’ fruit firmness were tested at multiple locations in Michigan, Minnesota, and New York over two years. Harvest date affected flesh firmness, starch pat- tern index, soluble solids concentration, internal ethylene concentration, and percentage of red blush at harvest. Harvest date affected all quality attributes of fruit after air and CA storage, except for flesh firmness 7 d after removal from air storage. Fruit stored under CA for 8 months developed CO 2 injury and senescent breakdown. Fruit treated with 1-methylcyclopropane retained firmness during 6 months of storage. All attributes varied by year and orchard. Harvest date did not affect sensory panelists’ liking of Minnesota-grown fruit. Although stored fruit developed decay and shriveling, no or low incidences of soft scald and soggy breakdown were observed. In general, ‘Minneiska’ fruit maintained good firmness and soluble solids concentration for up to 3 months when stored in air and for 4 months in CA conditions of 1.5-2.5% O 2 and 1.5-2.5% CO 2 . Introduction

 Aspects of the postharvest performance of ‘Honeycrisp’ that could also be a concern for ‘Minneiska’ include the uneven matura- tion of fruit, resulting in the need for multiple harvests, as well as susceptibility to several storage disorders (DeEll, 2005; Wargo and Watkins, 2004). Assessment of fruit matu- rity and determining when to harvest ‘Honey- crisp’ apples can be problematic. Commonly used maturity indices, such as flesh firmness, internal ethylene concentration (IEC), soluble solids concentration (SSC), and starch pattern index (SPI), are of limited use with ‘Honey- crisp’ (Wargo and Watkins, 2004; Watkins et al., 2005). It is not known how useful these criteria are for ‘Honeycrisp’ progeny.

 ‘Honeycrisp’, an apple cultivar known for its long-lasting crisp texture and juici- ness, has become popular due to consumer demand. Since its release in 1991, ‘Honey- crisp’ has been incorporated into many apple breeding programs. The first commercial cultivar released with ‘Honeycrisp’ in its pedigree was ‘Minneiska’. Fruit of this culti- var reaching acceptable wholesale quality is marketed as SweeTango ® . The other parent of ‘Minneiska’ is ‘Minnewashta’, marketed as Zestar! ® apple. This study was performed to characterize postharvest quality of ‘Min- neiska’ in multiple environments early in commercialization.

1 Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, 1970 Folwell Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108 USA; c-tong@umn.edu, lubyx001@umn.edu, bedfo001@umn.edu 2 Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University, A288 Plant & Soil Science Building, East Lansing, MI 48823 USA; beaudry@msu.edu, contre33@msu.edu 3 School of Integrative Plant Science - Section Horticulture, Cornell University, Plant Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA; cbw3@cornell.edu, jfn3@cornell.edu 4 Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55108, zvickers@umn, Kathryn.Zhang@genmills.com * Corresponding author: phone 1-612-624-3418, fax 1-612-624-4941