Post-Harvest Profile of Grapes - Agmarknet

‣ Grape berries which contain more pulp percentage have longer shelf
life.
‣ Glucose sugar helps in better storage than fructose sugar. The sugar
content of berries is related directly with post harvest life. If it is more,
the shelf life is more and vice-versa.
‣ The berry obtained from low nitrogen applied vines show better shelf
life.
‣ Grape berries which retain shining for more time have better storage
life.
‣ Green stemmed bunches of berries last longer.
‣ Healthy grape berries last longer in storage.
‣ Grapes harvested at low temperature and kept at low
metabolic/physiological activities have more shelf life.
‣ By using grape guards, the freshness of berries can be retained which
ultimately prolongs shelf life.
3.2 HARVESTING CARE AND POST-HARVEST CARE:
A) HARVESTING CARE
The following harvesting care should be taken:
MATURITY:
As grape is a non-climacteric fruit, it should be harvested only when the berries are
fully ripened on the vine itself. The optimum stage for harvesting of grape
bunches is indicated by the characteristic colour of fruits, variety, change in
colour of bunch stalk from green to yellow or brown, aroma/flavour,
softening of berries, sweetness of pulp and thickening of juice. Stage of
maturity at the time of harvesting determines the suitability of fruits for
processing, domestic or export market.
Generally, all bunches in the vineyard do not ripen evenly at the same time and all
the berries in the same bunch do not ripe at the same time. Therefore, it is
desirable to thin them out by removing small sized berries at the developing
stage. It will bring uniformity in maturity and size of berries.
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