Fruit Temperature Effects on Mechanical Damage of Sweet Cherries

The resistance of sweet cherries to compression damage as measured by the fruit firmness variables, [force to bioyield (FBY), slope of a compression curve, and maximum and residual forces of a compression-relaxation curve] decreased linearly with increasing fruit temperture. The incidence of impact-induced surface pitting decreased linearly as fruit temperature increased. The rate of decrease in impact damage per degree increase in fruit temperature was a function of the cultivar, contact surface, and drop height.