Introduction. Postharvest physiologyand ripening in passion fruit are not well documented, which isan impediment in designing handling and storage regimes. Materialsand methods. Passion fruits harvested at four different maturity stageswere studied for postharvest ripening behaviour and to determinethe correct stage of harvesting. Results and discussion. Therespiratory climacteric peak was attained in all stages irrespectiveof harvest maturity, while the ethylene evolution rate increasedby almost 8.15 times the initial value to peak levels of 505.35 µL C2H4·kg–1·h–1in fruits harvested at the 50% colour turning stage. Changes inHunter L*a*b* values indicated development of optimumcolour only in fruits harvested after 50% colour turning. Fruitquality attributes were also better in fruits harvested after half(50%) colour turning than fruits harvested earlier. Conclusion. Passion fruitshould be harvested only after 50% of fruit surface colour has developed,so as to allow for optimum postharvest storage, proper ripening,and development of characteristic flavour and fruit quality attributes.
