Modified Over-the-Row Machine Harvesters to Improve Northern Highbush Blueberry Fresh Fruit Quality

Improved blueberry mechanical harvesting (MH) equipment that maintains fresh market quality are needed due to rising costs and decreasing availability of laborers for harvesting by hand. In 2017, a modified over-the-row (OTR) blueberry harvester with experimental catch surfaces and plates designed to reduce fruit bruising was evaluated. The catch surfaces were made of neoprene (soft catch surface; SCS) or canvas (hard catch surface; HCS) and compared to hand-picked fruit (control). Early- and early/mid-season ‘Duke’ and ‘Draper’, respectively, were evaluated in Oregon, while late-season ‘Elliott’ and ‘Aurora’ were evaluated in Washington. Harvested berries were run through commercial packing lines with fresh pack out recorded and bruise incidence or fresh fruit quality evaluated during various lengths of cold storage. The fresh pack out for ‘Duke’ and ‘Draper’ were 83.5% and 73.2%, respectively, and no difference was noted between SCS and HCS. ‘Duke’ fruit firmness was highest among MH berries with SCS, but firmness decreased in storage after one week. Firmness was highest among hand harvested ‘Draper’ followed by MH with SCS. For ‘Elliott’ and ‘Aurora’, fruit firmness was the same across harvesting methods. ‘Draper’ exhibited more bruising than ‘Duke’, but bruise ratings and the incidence of bruising at ≤10% and ≤20% were similar between hand and MH ‘Draper’ with SCS after 24 h of harvest. ‘Aurora’ berries had similar bruise ratings after 24 h between hand harvesting and MH with SCS, while ‘Elliott’ showed more bruise damage by MH with both SCS and HCS than hand harvested fruit. Although our studies showed slightly lower fresh market blueberry pack outs, loss of firmness, and increased bruise damage in fruit harvested by the experimental MH system compared to hand harvested fruit, higher quality was achieved using SCS compared to HCS. We demonstrated that improved fresh market quality in northern highbush blueberry is achievable by using modified OTR harvesters with SCS and fruit removal by either hand-held pneumatic shakers or rotary drum shakers.

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Effects of Machine-Harvest Interval on Fruit Quality of Fresh Market Northern Highbush Blueberry

Horticulturae ◽

10.3390/horticulturae7080245 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (8) ◽

pp. 245

Author(s):

Yixin Cai ◽

Fumiomi Takeda ◽

Brian Foote ◽

Lisa Wasko DeVetter

Keyword(s):

Fruit Quality ◽

Titratable Acidity ◽

Vaccinium Corymbosum ◽

Soluble Solids ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Labor Costs ◽

Fresh Market ◽

Harvest Intervals ◽

Northern Highbush Blueberry

Machine harvesting blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) alleviates labor costs and shortages but can reduce fruit quality. Installation of softer catching surfaces inside modified over-the-row harvesters (modified OTR) and adjusting harvest intervals may improve fruit quality and packout. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of harvest interval on fruit quality of fresh market northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) harvested using a modified OTR. ‘Liberty’ blueberry bushes were harvested by hand or using a modified OTR at 3-, 10-, and 14-day intervals in 2019 and at 7-, 11-, and 14-day intervals in 2020. Hand-harvested ‘Liberty’ had greater packout and firmness than machine-harvested fruit. Machine harvesting at the 3-day interval in 2019, and the 14-day interval in 2020 reduced packout from 70–80% to 60% and 54%, respectively. In 2019, machine harvesting at a 3-day interval overall resulted in fruit with greater firmness, higher titratable acidity (TA), and lower total soluble solids (TSS) and SS/TA, compared to other harvest intervals. In 2020, the 7-day machine-harvest interval had a greater TA and lower TSS/TA, compared to the 11- and 14-day intervals. Overall, modified OTR machine-harvest intervals can be extended to 10–11 days for fresh market northern highbush cultivars such as ‘Liberty’ grown in northwest Washington.

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Thermal Cooling with Sprinklers or Microsprinklers Reduces Heat Damage and Improves Fruit Quality in Northern Highbush Blueberry

HortScience ◽

10.21273/hortsci15119-20 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 55 (8) ◽

pp. 1365-1371

Author(s):

Fan-Hsuan Yang ◽

David R. Bryla ◽

Scott T. Orr ◽

Bernadine C. Strik ◽

Yanyun Zhao

Keyword(s):

Air Temperature ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Soluble Solids ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Fruit Firmness ◽

Experimental Site ◽

Heat Damage ◽

Berry Weight ◽

Northern Highbush Blueberry

Hot and sunny weather can cause a considerable amount of fruit damage in northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) and result in millions of dollars of crop loss each year. To combat this issue, many growers use over-canopy sprinkler or microsprinkler systems to cool the fruit, but questions remain on the amount of time and frequency these systems should be run and whether they have any effect on fruit quality. Two series of studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of using sprinklers or microsprinklers for reducing blueberry fruit temperature and improving fruit quality in western Oregon. With sprinklers, treatments were applied in 2014 and 2015 to ‘Elliott’ blueberry and included irrigation (night) and cooling (day) with sprinklers, sprinkler irrigation (at night only) with no cooling, and drip irrigation with no cooling. The sprinklers were run for cooling for 15 minutes every hour whenever air temperature was ≥32 or 35 °C. Berry temperature declined rapidly within the first 15 minutes of cooling and never exceeded ambient air temperature during the cooling cycles. While the percentage of fruit with heat damage was low even without cooling (<2%), cooling reduced damage to nearly 0% in 1 of 2 years and increased berry weight relative to no cooling in both years when it was run at ≥32 °C. Cooling also reduced the concentration of soluble solids (sugars) in the berries in 2014 but had no effect on yield, fruit firmness, titratable acidity, harvest date, or the total content of phenolics or anthocyanins in the berries in either year. With microsprinklers, cooling was tested at a commercial farm and at an experimental site. At the farm, 1.3-ha blocks of ‘Aurora’ blueberry were irrigated by drip and either had no cooling or were cooled using microsprinklers run continuously or pulsed in 1-hour or 20-minute cycles during three extreme heat events (≥35 °C) in 2015. Continuous cooling was the most effective treatment for reducing berry temperature, but it resulted in wetter conditions, which might impede fruit harvest afterward and increase the presence of slugs, insect pests, and fungal diseases. Pulsed cooling, especially with short cycles, effectively maintained fruit temperatures near that of ambient air and reduced water use by 50%. At the experimental site, cooling with microsprinklers, which in this case were pulsed in 20-min cycles when air temperature was ≥ 32 °C, reduced heat damage in ‘Aurora’ and ‘Elliott’ in 2016. Cooling at this site also increased berry weight by an average of 10% in both cultivars and increased fruit firmness by 32% during the first of three harvests in ‘Aurora’; however, it reduced the concentration of soluble solids in the berries in both cultivars. In general, cooling with microsprinklers used considerably less water than cooling with sprinklers, but it appeared to be equally effective at reducing berry temperature.

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Breeding Highbush Blueberry Cultivars Adapted to Machine Harvest for the Fresh Market

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech.24.3.290 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 290-294 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

James W. Olmstead ◽

Chad E. Finn

Keyword(s):

Interspecific Hybrids ◽

Fresh Fruit ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Fresh Market ◽

Breeding Programs ◽

Stem Retention ◽

Harvest Timing ◽

Northern Highbush Blueberry ◽

Southern Highbush ◽

Made In

In recent years, world blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) production has been split evenly between processing and fresh fruit markets. Machine harvest of highbush blueberry {northern highbush blueberry [NHB (V. corymbosum)], southern highbush blueberry [SHB (V. corymbosum interspecific hybrids)], and rabbiteye blueberry [RE (V. virgatum)]} typically has been used to obtain large volumes of fruit destined for processing. Because of financial and labor concerns, growers are interested in using machine harvesting for fruit destined to be fresh marketed. Bush architecture, harvest timing, loose fruit clusters, easy detachment of mature berries compared with immature berries, no stem retention, small stem scar, a persistent wax layer, and firm fruit are breeding goals to develop cultivars amenable to machine harvest. Progress in selecting for these traits has been made in existing highbush blueberry breeding programs, but will likely intensify as the need for cultivars suitable for machine harvest for the fresh market increases.

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A Precision Pruning Strategy for Improving Efficiency of Vibratory Mechanical Harvesting of Apples

Transactions of the ASABE ◽

10.13031/trans.12825 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 61 (5) ◽

pp. 1565-1576 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Xin Zhang ◽

Long He ◽

Yaqoob Majeed ◽

Matthew David Whiting ◽

Manoj Karkee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Removal Efficiency ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Fresh Market ◽

Fruit Removal ◽

Vibratory System ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Labor Requirements ◽

Lateral Branches ◽

Canopy Management

Abstract. The state of Washington is the biggest fresh market apple ( Borkh.) producer in the U.S., and the state’s annual apple production has exceeded 60% of the national production. Due to the extensive labor requirements for harvesting fresh market apples, there is burgeoning demand for mechanical harvest solutions. Our transdisciplinary studies on mechanical harvest systems for apples have shown that fruit removal efficiency (FRE) with a vibratory system can be improved with precision canopy management. In this study, we evaluated the effect of precision pruning strategies on FRE in two groups (106 and 107, respectively) of randomly selected horizontal branches of ‘Jazz/M.9’ apple trees in a commercial orchard. Fruiting lateral branches were pruned to either shorter than 15 cm (guideline 1, G1) or 23 cm (guideline 2, G2). Harvest tests were conducted using a shake-and-catch harvester prototype developed by Washington State University with a fixed vibrating frequency of 20 Hz and shaking duration of 5 s. FRE for branches treated with G1 was significantly higher (91%) than FRE for branches treated with G2 (81%). We recorded a negative relationship between FRE and lateral shoot length. FRE was up to 98% when shoots were shorter than 5 cm, and FRE was only 56% for shoots of 25 cm or longer. We developed a shoot diameter-to-length index (S-index) to better understand the effect of shoot size on FRE. FRE was as high as 98% when the S-index was greater than 0.15. In addition, mechanically harvested fruit quality was assessed by categorizing the fruit into Extra Fancy, Fancy, and Downgrade fresh market classes based on USDA standards; however, no significant difference was found between the two treated groups. These results suggest that pruning lateral fruiting branches to less than 15 cm or to an S-index greater than 0.03 is required to achieve FRE of 85% with no negative impacts on fruit quality. Keywords: Canopy management, Fresh market fruit, Fruit removal efficiency, Mechanical harvest, Shoot pruning severity.

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Comparing the Efficacy of Postharvest Cooling Methods to Enhance Fruit Quality and Reduce Salmonella in Artificially Inoculated Southern Highbush Blueberry

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech04238-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 314-319 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jaysankar De ◽

Aswathy Sreedharan ◽

You Li ◽

Alan Gutierrez ◽

Jeffrey K. Brecht ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shelf Life ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Microbiological Quality ◽

Vaccinium Corymbosum ◽

Temperature Management ◽

Air Cooling ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Fresh Market ◽

Southern Highbush

Cooling procedures used by blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) growers often may include delays up to 24 hours that can damage the fruit through rough handling and adverse temperatures, thereby potentially compromising quality and, subsequently, safety. The objectives of this experiment were to compare forced-air cooling (FAC) compared to hydrocooling without sanitizer (HW) and hydrocooling with sanitizer (HS) regarding the quality and shelf life of southern highbush blueberry [SHB (Vaccinium corymbosum)] and to determine the efficacy of these treatments for reducing Salmonella in SHB. Freshly harvested SHB that were inoculated with a five-serovar cocktail of rifampin-resistant Salmonella were rapidly chilled by FAC or hydrocooling (HW and HS) using a laboratory model system. FAC did not show any significant reduction (P > 0.05) in Salmonella or in the effects on the microbiological quality of blueberries. HW and HS reduced Salmonella by ≈2 and >4 log cfu/g SHB, respectively, on day 0. These postharvest treatments were also evaluated for their ability to help maintain fruit quality throughout a storage period of 21 days at 1 °C. Hydrocooling (both HS and HW) provided more rapid cooling than FAC. Hydrocooled blueberries showed significant weight gain (P < 0.05), whereas FAC resulted in a slight, but insignificant (P > 0.05), reduction in final weight. The results of hydrocooling, both HS and HW, shown in this study could help to extend the shelf life while maintaining or increasing the microbiological quality of fresh market blueberries. Information obtained by this study can be used for developing the best temperature management practices to maintain the postharvest safety and quality of blueberries.

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Potential of Deficit Irrigation, Irrigation Cutoffs, and Crop Thinning to Maintain Yield and Fruit Quality with Less Water in Northern Highbush Blueberry

HortScience ◽

10.21273/hortsci11533-16 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 625-633 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Khalid F. Almutairi ◽

David R. Bryla ◽

Bernadine C. Strik

Keyword(s):

Water Use ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Deficit Irrigation ◽

Vaccinium Corymbosum ◽

Soluble Solids ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Stem Water Potential ◽

Full Irrigation ◽

Northern Highbush Blueberry ◽

Stem Water

Drought and mandatory water restrictions are limiting the availability of irrigation water in many important blueberry growing regions, such as Oregon, Washington, and California. New strategies are needed to maintain yield and fruit quality with less water. To address the issue, three potential options for reducing water use, including deficit irrigation, irrigation cutoffs, and crop thinning, were evaluated for 2 years in a mature planting of northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L. ‘Elliott’). Treatments consisted of no thinning and 50% crop removal in combination with either full irrigation at 100% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc), deficit irrigation at 50% ETc (applied for the entire growing season), or full irrigation with irrigation cutoff for 4–6 weeks during early (early- to late-green fruit) or late (fruit coloring to harvest) stages of fruit development. Stem water potential was similar with full and deficit irrigation but, regardless of crop thinning, declined by 0.5–0.6 MPa when irrigation was cutoff early and by >2.0 MPa when irrigation was cutoff late. In one or both years, the fruiting season was advanced with either deficit irrigation or late cutoff, whereas cutting off irrigation early delayed the season. Yield was unaffected by deficit irrigation in plants with a full crop load but was reduced by an average of 35% when irrigation was cutoff late each year. Cutting off irrigation early likewise reduced yield, but only in the 2nd year when the plants were not thinned; however, early cutoff also reduced fruit soluble solids and berry weight by 7% to 24% compared with full irrigation. Cutting off irrigation late produced the smallest and firmest fruit with the highest soluble solids and total acidity among the treatments, as well as the slowest rate of fruit loss in cold storage. Deficit irrigation had the least effect on fruit quality and, based on these results, appears to be the most viable option for maintaining yield with less water in northern highbush blueberry. Relative to full irrigation, the practice reduced water use by 2.5 ML·ha−1 per season.

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New Foliar-applied Biofilm Had No Impact on Splitting or Fruit Quality in ‘Elliott’ and ‘Legacy’ Blueberry in Oregon

HortTechnology ◽

10.21273/horttech04196-18 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (6) ◽

pp. 836-842

Author(s):

Amanda J. Vance ◽

Bernadine C. Strik

Keyword(s):

Fruit Quality ◽

Color Change ◽

Vaccinium Corymbosum ◽

Sprinkler System ◽

Soluble Solids ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Fresh Market ◽

Visual Rating ◽

Berry Size ◽

Current Product

Fresh market blueberry (Vaccinium sp.) sales require high-quality, firm fruit with no significant defects. A new phospholipid biofilm product was developed to reduce splitting and increase firmness when applied directly to blueberry fruit. Two trials were undertaken to test the effects of the biofilm using various application timings and methods. In highbush blueberry cultivar Elliott (Vaccinium corymbosum), four treatments included: 1) rate and timing on the current product label (5- to 10-mm berry size, 10% to 20% color change, and between the first and second harvests), 2) addition of a preharvest timing (5- to 10-mm berry size, 10% to 20% color change, and 7 to 10 days preharvest); 3) starting applications later (10% to 20% color change, 7 to 10 days preharvest, and between the first and second harvests), and 4) a water-sprayed control. Biofilm was applied at a rate of 2 qt/acre for all applications. In highbush blueberry cultivar Legacy (Vaccinium corymbosum × Vaccinium sp.), the same volume of biofilm was applied via an airblast sprayer or through an overhead sprinkler system typically used for chemigation and compared with a water-sprayed control. Data collected included yield (in ‘Elliott’), berry weight, firmness, skin toughness, total soluble solids (TSS), weight loss during storage, percent splitting (in ‘Legacy’), and a visual rating, evaluated on the day of harvest and about 14 and 28 days postharvest. There were no visual defects caused by application of biofilm. Compared with the controls in either study, biofilm had no consistent impact on fruit quality, firmness, shelf life, yield in ‘Elliott’, or splitting in ‘Legacy’.

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Cold Storage Influences Postharvest Chilling Injury and Quality of Peach Fruits

Journal of Horticultural Science & Technology ◽

10.46653/jhst180101028 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 28-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ahmad Sattar Khan ◽

Kamal Hussain ◽

Hafiz Muhammad Shoaib Shah ◽

Aman Ullah Malik ◽

Raheel Anwar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Weight Loss ◽

Ascorbic Acid ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Cold Storage ◽

Acid Content ◽

Chilling Injury ◽

Ascorbic Acid Content ◽

Fruit Firmness ◽

Early Season ◽

Late Season

Peach (Prunus persica L.) fruits exhibit limited postharvest shelf and storage life due to rapid softening. Therefore, in the present study effect of cold storage was investigated on postharvest chilling injury (CI) and fruit quality during ripening following cold storage on five peach cultivars including ‘Peach Select No. 3’ (PS-3), ‘Florida Gold’ (FG) and ‘Florida King’ (FK) as early season maturing, and ‘Indian Blood’ (IB) and ‘Maria Delezia’ (MD) as late season maturing cultivars. Peach fruits harvested at commercial maturity were ripened at ambient conditions following cold storage for 0, 10 and 20 days at 0±1 °C with 80±5% RH. Data regarding peach fruit quality parameters and incidence of CI were recorded at fully ripe eating soft stage. Results indicated that apart from the cultivars, fruit weight loss, levels of soluble solid content (SSC) and sugars increased as the storage period was progressed. However, fruit firmness, titratable acidity (TA), and ascorbic acid content significantly reduced during cold storage. Among early season maturing peach cultivars, fruits of ‘FG’ and among late season maturing peach cultivars, fruits of ‘MD’ showed better postharvest shelf life and fruit quality during ripening following cold storage. The highest SSC and SSC: TA ratio were observed in ‘FG’ peach fruits; however, these fruits exhibited 50% and 75% CI after 10 and 20 days of cold storage, respectively. During first 10 days of cold storage, ‘PS-3’ peach fruits showed better taste with higher fruit firmness and ascorbic acid content, however, later on the highest level of CI was observed in these fruits. Among all the tested peach cultivars, the ‘IB’ peach fruits showed higher fruit firmness, lower weight loss, as well as acceptable biochemical fruit quality (SSC, SSC; TA, ascorbic acid content, total sugars) during 20 days of cold storage without showing any symptoms of CI.

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Effect of Shaking Location and Duration on Mechanical Harvesting of Fresh Market Apples

Applied Engineering in Agriculture ◽

10.13031/aea.12974 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 175-183 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Long He ◽

Xin Zhang ◽

Yunxiang Ye ◽

Manoj Karkee ◽

Qin Zhang

Keyword(s):

Removal Efficiency ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Performance Test ◽

Horizontal Plate ◽

Fresh Market ◽

Fruit Removal ◽

Apple Trees ◽

System A ◽

Fruit Damage ◽

Removal Efficiencies

Abstract. With adopting the modern high-density tree architectures, localized shake-and-catch harvesting is becoming more promising for fresh market apples. To investigate the shaking inputs for an effective harvesting system, a multi-tier shake-and-catch harvesting platform was developed and evaluated in a commercial orchard. The platform composes of a shaker and two three-tier catching surfaces. Performance test was conducted in ‘Jazz’ apple trees trained to a vertical fruiting wall architecture (two horizontal branches at each tier). Two harvesting sections were defined in the test trees, namely, Section I - two neighboring branches at the same tier from two adjacent trees; and Section II - two branches at the same tier of a tree. For Section I, shaking was applied to the middle of each branch (location P1), and for Section II, shaking was applied at the location close to the trunk (location P2). Shaking frequency was set to 20 Hz, and two shaking durations (i.e., 5 and 2 s) were used. In the test, the catching angle relative to the horizontal plate was set to 15°. The results indicated that the fruit removal efficiencies (2nd to 4th tiers of trees were used in the analysis) were 76.6% and 78.1% for shaking at middle of each branch in 2 and 5 s shaking, respectively; those numbers were 86.3% and 89.5% for shaking at location P2. The percentage of marketable fruits were 89.7% and 90.6% for the Section I shaking in two durations, and 84.5% and 84.4% in the Section II shaking. Overall, this study revealed that 2 s shaking duration is sufficient to remove majority of fruits in the tested variety, and the section II shaking had higher overall fruit removal efficiency but also caused slightly more fruit damage. Keywords: Fresh market apples, Fruit quality, Fruit removal efficiency, Mechanical harvesting, Multi-tier shake-and-catch.

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Blue Light Does Not Affect Fruit Quality or Disease Development on Ripe Blueberry Fruit During Postharvest Cold Storage

Horticulturae ◽

10.3390/horticulturae6040059 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 59

Author(s):

Yi-Wen Wang ◽

Helaina D. Ludwig ◽

Harald Scherm ◽

Marc W. van Iersel ◽

Savithri U. Nambeesan

Keyword(s):

Blue Light ◽

Fruit Quality ◽

Cold Storage ◽

Disease Incidence ◽

Quality Attributes ◽

Light Treatment ◽

Highbush Blueberry ◽

Disease Development ◽

Anthocyanin Accumulation ◽

Southern Highbush

Blueberry fruit are perishable after harvesting due to fruit softening, water loss and susceptibility to pathogens. Light, especially blue light, increases the accumulation of anthocyanins and reduces postharvest decay in some fruits, but the effect of blue light on postharvest fruit quality attributes in blueberries is unknown. In this study, we evaluated the effect of blue light on fruit quality, anthocyanin accumulation and disease development during postharvest cold storage (2 °C–4 °C) in two experiments with southern highbush blueberry ‘Star’ and rabbiteye blueberry ‘Alapaha’. Overall, diurnal blue light did not affect postharvest fruit quality attributes, such as visual defects, fruit compression, skin puncture, total soluble solid content and titratable acidity, in the two cultivars compared with their respective controls (diurnal white light or continuous darkness). Further, there was no effect of blue light on fruit color and anthocyanin accumulation. Fruit disease incidence in ‘Star’ ranged from 19.0% to 27.3% after 21 days and in ‘Alapaha’ from 44.9% to 56.2% after 24 days in postharvest storage, followed by 4 days at room temperature, but blue light had no consistent effect on postharvest disease incidence for either cultivar. Disease progression following artificial inoculations with Alternaria tenuissima and Colletotrichum acutatum in ‘Star’ was not influenced by light treatment prior to inoculation and during fruit storage. In a separate experiment, we tested the effect of blue light on color development in ‘Farthing’, a southern highbush blueberry cultivar with fruit prone to non-uniform ripening, whereby the stem-end remains green as the rest of the fruit turns blue. Although green stem-end spots turned blue over time, there was no statistically significant effect of the blue light treatment. Overall, these data indicate that blue light does not affect fruit quality attributes or disease development in ripe blueberry fruit during postharvest storage in the conditions investigated here.

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