Research PaperManipulation of mango fruit dry matter content to improve eating quality

•Increase in harvest DM% without loss of fruit size.•Increase in ripened Brix without loss of shelf life.•The effect of rainfall events to DM and size.•NIR's ability to predict on fruit in different agronomic conditions.

A near infrared spectroscopic method was used to non-invasively assess dry matter (DM) of fruit on tree with a R2p = 0.82 and RMSEP = 0.52% across fruit from a range of water denied treatments. A variety of techniques for manipulating tree fruit carbohydrates (fruit thinning, girdling, nitrogen and water manipulation) were implemented on six mango farms in 2013. Fruit thinning and water denial treatments resulted in increased DM. Water denial for periods as short as 2 weeks before harvest resulted in increased DM (17.6 cf. 16.5% in control) and ripened fruit Brix (14.3 cf. 13.3° in control) without decrease in fruit size associated with long periods of water denial.