Table 2.

Median survival time (time at which ≤50% of the berries remained intact, i.e., nonsplit) of ‘Concord’ grape berries at blue and ripe developmental stages when the berries were immersed in cell wall manipulation solutions

	Blue		Ripe		Blue vs. Ripe
Treatmentx	Time (min)	p	Time (min)	p	p
Control	180	Ref. y	135	Ref.	<0.05
Stiffening	315	<0.001z	225	0.11	<0.01
Loosening 1	105	<0.001	75	<0.05	<0.1
Loosening 2	60	<0.001	30	<0.001	<0.05

^xAll treatment solutions were based on 50 mM sodium citrate buffer at pH 3.3. Control: buffer solution. Stiffening: 50 mM hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) added. Loosening 1 & 2: 50 mM H₂O₂ + 50 mM ascorbate added. Loosening 2 received 15 min pre-treatment in 1 mM FeSO₄. The other treatments received 15 min pre-treatment in the buffer.

^yThe control for blue and ripe was used as the reference for comparisons within stages.

^zPaired comparisons by Gehan–Breslow–Wilcoxon test.