Table 1.
Total soluble solids (TSS), radius (r), fresh weight (FW), cuticle thickness (tc), estimated critical shell tension (Tcs), and estimated yield tension (Ty) in green hard (GH) and overripe (OR) berries of ‘Merlot’, ‘Zinfandel’, and ‘Concord’ grapevines
| Cultivar | Stage | TSS | r | FW | tc | Tcs | Ty | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (°Brix) | (mm) | (g) | nx | (µm) | ny | (N/m) | (N/m) | ||
| ‘Merlot’ | GH | 8.8 ± 0.4 av | 4.03 ± 0.02 | 0.27 ± 0.00 b | 3 | 3.57 ± 0.20 b | 4 | ndz | nd |
| OR | 26.9 ± 0.3 Bw | 5.82 ± 0.07 C | 0.89 ± 0.02 C | 10 | 3.58 ± 0.13 B | 4 | 526.6 | 40.4 | |
| ‘Zinfandel’ | GH | 7.3 ± 0.1 b | 4.66 ± 0.23 | 0.43 ± 0.05 ab | 7 | 3.88 ± 0.09 b | 5 | nd | nd |
| OR | 30.5 ± 0.7 A | 7.47 ± 0.17 B | 1.82 ± 0.13 B | 10 | 3.10 ± 0.09 B | 5 | 261.7 | 14.9 | |
| ‘Concord’ | GH | 5.0 ± 0.2 c | 4.83 ± 0.28 | 0.53 ± 0.07 a | 3 | 7.26 ± 0.31 a | 5 | nd | nd |
| OR | 21.5 ± 0.2 C | 8.53 ± 0.07 A | 2.92 ± 0.07 A | 10 | 9.21 ± 0.42 A | 5 | 497.6 | 116.8 | |
vMean ± SE. Different lower-case letters within columns indicate significant varietal differences by multiple range comparison (LSD) in GH berries.
wDifferent upper-case letters within columns indicate significant varietal differences by multiple range comparison (LSD) in OR berries.
xNumber of berries used for TSS, r, and FW measurements.
yNumber of berries used for tc measurements; tc was measured on 3‒9 equatorial positions per berry and averaged.
zTcs and Ty were not estimated for GH berries because they do not behave like thin-shell spheres10.