Modeling fruit ripening for improving peach homogeneity in planta

• Peach ripening on tree was monitored using the index of absorbance difference (IAD).
• Tree architecture was recreated with the reconstruction model PlantToon®.
• Fruits with low IAD values were mainly situated in the top and in the outer canopy.
• Quality traits are related to fruit position on the tree and row orientation.
• PlanToon® and IAD drive cultural techniques to improve post-harvest management.

The combined use of a modeling system (PlantToon®) and of an innovative vis-NIR device (DA-Meter) was tested in peach. The first allows to design the tree structure and the fruit position on the tree while the DA-Meter was used to characterize non destructively the fruit ripening in planta. This instrument provides an index (IAD), that expresses the ripening stage reached by the fruit which correlates with chlorophyll content and ethylene emission to accurately describe the fruit ripening evolution. Combining the PlantToon® software with the DA-Meter data allows to virtually design the tree structure, to follow the fruit ripening along the season and also to determine the level of fruit heterogeneity in the field. These information can be used not only to establish the best moment to perform the harvest but also to tune up the cultural management techniques (e.g. fruit thinning and winter and summer pruning) to reduce the outliers fruit and to concentrate ripening to improve harvest and post-harvest management.