The Testing and Scoring of Some Avocado Varieties and New Selections on Their Behavior Under Refrigeration

Abstract

A method is described for obtaining a refrigeration tolerance index for avocado varieties. This index reflects the generalized performance of a total of 35 avocado fruits, 5 of which are subjected to each of 7 different refrigerated treatments. The treatments consisted of 1, 2, 3 and 4 weeks of storage at a mean temperature of 43° F. and 1, 2, and 3 weeks at a mean temperature of 53° F. A total of 36 sets of fruits were tested and indexed accordingly. The resulting indices reflect marked clonal differences in cold tolerance, and suggest fairly consistent performance within the clone. Indices are shown for 32 varieties, most of which are local selections, but which include 4 more or less standard varieties.