Fruit firmness was measured by penetrometer (Model FT 40, Wagner Instruments, Greenwich CT).
The lowest fruit firmness index was related to loamy soil treatment and the highest amount of fruit firmness index was related to S + 5%Pa treatment, and it had significant difference as compared with other treatments.
Similarly, fruit length, fruit fresh weight and fruit firmness of SHAL treatment were also significantly higher than that of the treatment AL (Table 2).
The greater fruit firmness in SHNF and SHAL treatments possibly could be due to the strengthening of cell wall structures resulted by Si treatments.
Shoot length, root length, fruit length, fruit weight and fruit firmness were also increased significantly in simplified system compared to the liquid system.
The G194D mutant line showed longer fruit maturation, enhanced fruit firmness and delayed fruit yellowing.
Fruit ripening is a process characterized by a number of biochemical and physiological processes that alter fruit firmness, colour, flavour, aroma, and texture [34], [35].
Fruit firmness and external color intensity (C*) were similar between conventional and organic berries, but organic berries were darker red (significantly lower L* and hab) than conventional berries.
All these changes suggested that ABA negatively regulated fruit firmness.
Fruit firmness after storage related to both fruit firmness at harvest, the rate of fruit softening and the interaction between them.
Two QTLs, qtlff.j11a and qtlff.11b, for fruit firmness were mapped to LG11.
