Determination of the minimum dry matter index for the optimum harvest of 'Hass' avocado fruits in Colombia

Abstract

Colombia has become an important producer of 'Hass' avocado in the last three years; however, a minimum dry matter content has not been established as a maturity index for harvest. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between oil percentage and dry matter content in order to establish a minimum harvest index for 'Hass' avocado fruits grown in Colombia. Samples were collected for maturity determinations over three years of 'Hass' avocado fruit cultivation from fifteen different orchards in the department of Antioquia in order to determine the dry matter and oil percentage of fruits throughout the season. A simple linear relationship between oil content and dry matter was thus established. The equations for all of the studied orchards presented a good correlation coefficient, ranging between 0.70 on the Cartucho orchard in the municipality of Retiro and 0.99 on the Gacamayas and Paraiso orchards in the municipality of Entrerrios and Retiro. Using the minimal oil standard of 11.2% as a reference, the orchards that were found to have a high dry matter percentage at harvest were Cartucho in Retiro (26%), followed by Piedras Blancas and Santa Cruz in the municipality of Venecia (25%); while the 'Hass' avocado fruit from the Cebadero orchard in Retiro, Coconi in the municipality of La Ceja and Guacamayas in Entrerrios reached this oil standard at 22% dry matter, which could be a commercial advantage. Based on these oil content results, a minimal dry matter index of 23.5% was proposed as a harvest maturity indicator for 'Hass' avocado grown in Colombia. This harvesting index will need to be refined over time and with the addition of samples from more regions and climatic data profiles.