Research by three Katikati College Innovative Horticulture students is yielding information which will help the kiwifruit postharvest sector further improve inventory management and fruit quality.

The students, Rose Rayner, James Evans and Myah Mason,  were commissioned to monitor and record the respiration of kiwifruit by Tauranga based company Start Afresh as part of a wider Zespri-funded programme aimed to discover variations in fruit respiration.

Five days a week during the harvest season they collected between 75 and 80 pieces of fruit from the post-harvest facility Seeka Main Road in Katikati.

In the school’s hort lab the students recorded details of the fruit's weight, whether it was a green or gold variety, the number of pieces and grower number.

They then placed the fruit in a perspex container, fitted with a fan and equipment to monitor carbon dioxide. After an hour the fruit was removed and data recorded on a laptop. Identical monitoring was also carried out on other fruit lines in Start Afresh’s own laboratories.

Thanks to "The Orchardist" for this article and images.