My Alphonso fruit looks fine outside but when cut, some have a soft, spongy, off-coloured patch near the stone. Buyers reject these. What causes it and how do I cut it down?
2 Answers
Spongy tissue is a known internal disorder specific to Alphonso, linked to high pulp temperature and over-maturity around harvest, and to calcium and boron imbalance. It does not show outside, which is why it hurts so much. To reduce it, harvest at correct mature-green stage rather than letting fruit over-mature on the tree, harvest in cooler morning hours, avoid exposing harvested fruit to hot sun, and pre-cool fruit before transport. Maintain soil calcium and boron through soil testing and recommended foliar boron and calcium sprays during fruit development as advised by your KVK. Sod culture or mulching the basin to keep soil temperature down also helps. There is no spray that cures it once formed, so the focus is maturity timing and temperature management.
Harvesting early morning and keeping fruit in shade reduced my rejection a lot. Earlier I used to harvest in afternoon heat, that was the mistake.