Post-harvest problems: the challenges of the cherry industry
27 Feb 2025
With increasing demands for longer shelf life, parameters such as firmness, colour and dehydration of the stalk are crucial for product acceptance in international markets.
The presence of double fruits and deep sutures in cherries is a serious problem for Chilean cherry cultivation, negatively affecting the quality and condition of the fruit.
This physiopathy could become an even greater production problem in the coming years, considering that the factors that predispose to it (mainly high temperatures and water deficit situations during the cherry's flower differentiation period), are becoming more and more frequent in Chile and other cherry growing areas in the world.
The use of protective nets and the application of sunscreen seem to be the most valid tools for producers to mitigate this problem in their orchards.
In this regard, the work of Chilean researchers at the University of Concepcion is aimed at studying the environmental and physiological variables that regulate the induction of double fruit and deep sutures in cherries in order to propose new solutions to control this physiopathy, which are more effective and less costly than the means currently available.
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