Abstract

Cambridge Favourite, Cambridge Vigour, Gorella and Redgauntlet fruit had short pedicels, rendering them unsuitable for machine harvesting. Troubadour, Silver Jubilee, Saladin and G 67 (derivatives of Md. U.S. 2650) had long pedicels. With the exception of Silver Jubilee, the Md. U.S. 2650 derivatives required a high decapping force, and therefore should be adapted to machine-decapping with a band-knife. Two Tioga derivatives (FT 88 and FT 118) had significantly firmer fruit than Cambridge Favourite, the standard.