Harvest delay has significantly affected fruit quality, particularly
firmness, TA, and SSC:TA ratio, at both locations and seasons
(Table 1). Fruit became significantly (P ≤ 0.05) softer with delayed
harvest at the advanced fruit maturity in both years and locations.
The loss of fruit firmness with delayed harvest may be ascribed
to the increased ethylene production. Softening in apple starts at
the beginning of fruit maturation which is concomitant with the
ethylene burst (Stella et al., 2007). It is generally accepted that
apple fruit harvested at early stages of maturity are firmer than
those harvested at later stages of maturity (Ingle et al., 2000),
probably because the later had a longer initial slow phase of softening
(Johnston et al., 2002). P