Kiwifruit - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 463

Figure 25.2. Commercially available green- (A.deliciosa) and yellow- (A.chinensis) fleshed kiwifruits and
pink- and red-fleshed kiwifruits. The pink- and red-fleshed ones are currently produced and distributed by
Turners and Growers, New Zealand. (The authors thank Turners and Growers for providing the pictures of
four different colors of kiwifruit.). For color detail, please see color plate section.

POSTHARVEST PHYSIOLOGY AND STORAGE
TECHNOLOGIES
Kiwifruit is a climacteric fruit; it softens and decays
rapidly once harvested. Several mechanisms can lead to
fast postharvest ripening if appropriate interventions are
not in place. The most important commercial kiwifruit
variety, 'Hayward,' has a storage life of about 6 months
at 0 ◦ C and longer storage periods can be achieved under
controlled atmosphere and with various prestorage treat-
ments (Atunes and Sfakiotakis, 2000; Martın-Diana et al.,
2007). One of the most important factors affecting the
rate of ripening and the stability of the fruit during stor-
age is ethylene production, which is greatly affected by
the storage temperature, the storage period, and the gas
composition of the storage container. Very low ethylene

concentrations (0.005 − 0.01 μ l/liter) can induce premature
ripening and accelerate the texture softening rate, which re-
stricts the shelf life and increases the susceptibility of fruit
to handling injuries and development of various fruit rots
(Mitchell, 1990; Crisosto et al., 2000). Ethylene produc-
tion is almost zero at temperatures below 10 ◦ C in kiwifruit
(Antunes et al., 2000), but it increases substantially be-
tween 30 ◦ and 34 ◦ C and declines above 40 ◦ C (Antunes
and Sfakiotakis, 2000). A fruit's respiration rates also play
a critical role in the postharvest shelf life and quality. The
respiration rate of kiwifruit is 3, 5-7, 12, and 16-22 mg
CO 2 /kg/hr at 0 ◦ ,4 ◦ -5 ◦ ,10 ◦ , and 20 ◦ -21 ◦ C, respectively
(Rushing, 2004). Kiwifruit falls under “very low respir-
ing fruits” as per the classification given by Paull and
Duarte (2011).

Figure 25.3. Red-fleshed kiwifruits derived from A.deliciosaand A.chinensis. Pictures of red-fleshed kiwifruit
are copied from Montefiori et al. (2005). (Copyright permission has been granted by ACS publisher). For color
detail, please see color plate section.