Postharvest Characteristics of ‘MN80’ (Triumph™) Apple Fruit Compared to ‘Cortland’ and ‘Honeycrisp’

Abstract

‘MN80’, a cross between ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Liberty’, a newly-released apple sold under the Triumph trademark, is meant to be marketed primarily to home gardeners and small-scale commercial orchards. It was selected for release based on its fruits’ resistance to apple scab, thus requiring less spraying than scab-susceptible cultivars. The quality of ‘MN80’ fruit from two growing locations over multiple years was assessed at harvest and after storage for four months at 0-1 °C and 4-5 °C. Mean firmness of Wisconsin-grown ‘MN80’fruit decreased as harvest week increased, but mean fruit fresh weight and total soluble solids concentration (SSC) remained the same over harvest time, which was also observed for ME-grown fruit. Fruit stored at 4-5 °C exhibited more shrivel and loss of firmness than fruit stored at 0-1 °C. Percentages of fruit showing internal browning and soft scald in storage increased with harvest date for ME-grown fruit in 2019 but not 2021. Consumer sensory panels evaluating newly-harvested fruit liked ‘Honeycrisp’ and Maine-grown ‘MN80’fruit best, followed by Wisconsin-grown ‘MN80’fruit, then ‘Cortland’ fruit. However, after 4 months of storage, Maine-grown ‘MN80’ fruit had the highest overall liking scores of all the stored cultivars. Mean sensory attribute scores of Maine- and Wisconsin-grown ‘MN80’ fruit changed little with storage, whereas stored ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Cortland’ had lower scores than newly-harvested fruit. For all cultivars, storage temperature had no effect on sensory attribute scores. These data suggest that ‘MN80’ fruit retain characteristics that appeal to consumers between harvest and 4-5 months of cold storage.