Abstract
The visual appearance of fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the first quality determinants made by the consumer. Often the appearance of the commodity is the most critical factor in the initial sale. In Florida, the color of the mango (Mangifera indica L.) is an important factor and everyone admires a handsome mango that is generously overlaid with red. Red skin is considered a necessity for mangos shipped to northern markets, even though other aspects of quality may be inferior to that of non-showy cultivars. In the past, the evaluation of mango color has been subjective and based on visual ratings. Large errors are associated with these types of ratings, which makes evaluation of the varieties based on fruit color difficult. The present paper illustrates the use of a colorimeter to quantify fruit color, quality, and differentiation among varieties. Mango color was measured with a Minolta Chroma Meter CR-400 portable tristimulus colorimeter and fruit chromaticity was recorded in Commission Internationale d'Eclairage L*, a* and b* color space coordinates. In this system of color representation the values L*, a*, and b* describe a uniform three-dimensional color space, where the L* value corresponds to a dark-bright scale, a* is negative for green, and positive for red, and b* is negative for blue and positive for yellow. For each sample, color values were measured at the base, cavity, and apex on each mango. Detailed data was obtained from six half-sib families and two clonal checks in 2004. Fruit and seed size and weight, fruit number, % Brix, jelly seed, and anthracnose resistance were also evaluated. The ability to quantify color readings could allow us to estimate the heritability of this trait and aid in the selection of parents to use in breeding new cultivars.
