Relationship between harvest indices and fruit quality traits in Actinidia chinensis ‘Jintao’

Five harvest indices of ‘Jintao’ kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis Planch.) from 27 orchards in Henan Province were measured, including average fruit weight, hue angle, firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), and dry matter. Eight fruit quality parameters were measured at the mature stage, including average fruit weight, hue angle, firmness, SSC, total sugar (TS), titratable acids (TA), ratio of TS/TA, and proportion of ripening fruit (PRF). A comprehensive score of fruit quality for each orchard was obtained through principal component analysis based on the eight fruit quality parameters. The correlations between harvest indices and comprehensive score and other fruit quality parameters were analyzed. Results showed that all harvest indices were significantly associated with the comprehensive score, with the highest correlation coefficient found for dry matter (r=0.437). Dry matter was also significantly correlated with three other fruit quality traits, including SSC, total sugar and TS/TA, with correlation coefficients of 0.578, 0.324 and 0.279, respectively. Hue angle was significantly correlated with the proportion of mature fruits. Dry matter was the main index for evaluating fruit quality in the ‘Jintao’, followed by SSC and hue angle.