Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 12.10.
The effect of precocious
fl
owering in the January to February period on
outshipment of pineapples from Hawaii contrasted with desired production.
in the inter-rows and place the fruit on a conveyor belt running on a boom,
which transfers the fruit to a truck fi eld bin. Fruit is placed in the bin by hand,
upside-down on the crown to avoid injury. Fruits are also harvested by pickers
carrying large baskets on their backs. When the baskets are full, the fruits are
dumped at the ends of the rows or at the side of fi eld roads, to be later loaded
into trucks or trailers. When the fruit arrives at the packing shed, it is unloaded
by hand, by submerging the fi eld bin in water or by sliding the fruit out of the
fi eld bin into water. Fruit with high translucency ('sinkers') are separated at
this step. Fully ripe, translucent fruit are unsuitable for transporting to distant
markets and less-mature fruit are selected. Immature fruits are not shipped,
since they do not develop good fl avour, have low sugars, and are more prone to
chilling injury. Care is taken to avoid mechanical damage to the crown leaves
and mechanical injury to the fruit shell.
Postharvest handling
Fruits are waxed after washing, frequently with polyethylene and parai n or
carnauba and parai n waxes. The selected wax reduces internal browning
