Fruit Skin Side Cracking and Ostiole-end Splitting Shorten the Postharvest Life in Fresh Figs (Ficus carica L.), but are Reduced by Deficit Irrigation

Side cracking and ostiole-end splitting skin fruit damage affected decay development and the percentage of sound fruit during fresh fig (Ficus carica L.) postharvest handling and marketing. Furthermore, postharvest decay incidence was associated with the degree of side cracking and ostiole-end splitting at harvest. The type and degree of skin damage varied among cultivars. For 'Brown Turkey', 'Kadota' and 'Sierra', slight skin-damage prior to cold storage increased decay and reduced postharvest life. In contrast, the postharvest life of 'Black Mission' fig was not significantly affected by a slight degree of skin damage prior to cold storage. Modification of current grading standard tolerances according to cultivar is suggested to protect the consumers and improve marketable yield. Because fruit skin side cracking and ostiole-end splitting occur during fruit growth and development, prevention by regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) with 55% ETc was studied for two years. In both seasons, fruit quality attributes were not affected by RDI, except for 'Brown Turkey', where size decreased by 21% during one season. RDI significantly reduced fruit skin side cracking and ostiole-end splitting in 'Brown Turkey' and skin side cracking in 'Sierra', increasing marketable fruit by 50% in 'Brown Turkey' and 18% in 'Sierra'.