Investigating Envy™ apple eating quality

23 August 2019 | Future Orchards® Tasmania trial | Sophie Folder, Craig Hornblow, Dean Rainham and Ryan Hankin

This Tasmanian Future Orchards® trial investigated whether variation in Envy™ eating quality was related to crop load, fruit dry matter or maturity. Because Envy™ is marketed on a distinctive eating experience, the trial was designed to understand why fruit from different trees or treatments may not deliver the same result to consumers.

Twelve trial trees were hand thinned to crop-load targets based on trunk cross-sectional area. Crop load was checked again before harvest and fruit were sampled for dry matter analysis. At harvest, treatment samples were assessed for maturity using starch, foreground and background colour, brix, pressure and fruit weight.

Fruit were then stored for 10 weeks in commercial Envy™ cool storage and held for a further week at ambient temperature to simulate retail conditions. Post-storage maturity measurements were taken before a sensory taste panel assessed eating quality.

The trial provides a practical framework for linking orchard crop-load decisions with measurable internal quality and consumer experience. It also demonstrates the value of combining orchard data, laboratory measurements, storage performance and sensory assessment when investigating quality variability.