The Cell Wall in Ripening Avocados

Abnormalities in ripening lead, in some years, to substantial losses of fruit. For example, in tomato, there is a physiological disorder known as "blotchy" fruit which has been related to alterations in the cell wall metabolism (7). Some areas within the fruit fail to soften normally resulting in hard spots in the otherwise ripe fruit. This reduction in quality of the fruit often results in rejection from the market. A similar disorder has been reported in the avocado fruit. Oppenheimer (11) found that low yield (related to temperatures or individual fruiting habits of the trees), delay in harvest, large size of fruit, and non-adhering seed-coats were factors which seemed to be associated with a high percentage of abnormal fruit. In order to reduce these abnormalities we must learn more about the cell wall changes taking place during the normal softening process.