Influence of maturity stage of mango at harvest on its ripening quality

Introduction. The subjectivity of the external criteria used for the determination of mango maturity at its harvest led to the search for additional more reliable parameters to determine the optimal harvest maturity and able to replace the external and internal morphological indices. Materials and methods. Some physicochemical characteristics, such as colour of pulp, soluble dry extract, titratable acidity and weight loss, were evaluated on fruits of the cv. Kent (Mangifera indica L.) collected in North Cote d'Ivoire. The days necessary for ripening after harvest were estimated. Measurements were correlated to five maturity stages corresponding to the fruit harvest carried out at (76, 82, 88, 94 and 100) days after flowering. On each date of harvest, batches of 52 fruits were gathered. On half of them, maturation was observed as of harvest, the other half being kept at room temperature and the ripening evaluation then being done at the end of storage. Results. According to the harvest date, the soluble dry extract values varied from 8.3 degrees Brix to 10 degrees Brix at fruit harvest, and from 14.2 degrees Brix to 20 degrees Brix after ripening of the fruits stored at ambient temperature. Titratable acidity was correlated positively with maturity stage. Time to ripen and weight loss continuously decreased with the fruit maturity. For mangos of the cv. Kent, the date of the most suitable harvest seemed to be at 94 days after flowering. Mangos collected at 100 days after flowering developed better organoleptic characteristics such as sugar content, peel aspect and pulp colour than those of the fruit harvested earlier. Conclusion. Starting from the 94th day after flowering, the mango of the cv. Kent collected under the conditions of the North Cote d'Ivoire develops its best organoleptic characteristics during ripening.