Optimum Allocation of Objective Color Measurements for Evaluating Fresh Strawberries

Components of variance were estimated for 10 strawberry ( Fragaria × ananassa ) color traits to determine their relative importance and to design optimal sampling strategies. The color attributes of >2000 fruit from 47 genotypes from the Univ. of California Strawberry Improvement Program were evaluated over three harvest dates (HDs) in one growing season. Measurements were obtained for a moderate number of fruit from each genotype on each date, and two measurements were obtained for each trait on all fruit. Variances for HDs were nonsignificant or small (0% to 8% of the total variance). Genotype × date variances were highly significant but small (≤6% of the total) for all color traits except internal hue (14% of the total). For external color traits, the within-fruit variance was greater than the among-fruit variance (16% to 64% and 0% to 14% of the total, respectively). For internal color traits, the among-fruit variance was greater than the within-fruit variance (20% to 37% and 9% to 19% of the total, respectively). Obtaining two measurements per fruit for several fruit on one HD is an efficient strategy for characterizing a genotype's fruit color; seven to 22 fruit are needed to estimate a genotype's fruit color within 2 units (Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage L * a * b * or degrees) with 95% confidence.