*2.9. Fruit Puncture Resistance*

The ability of the fruit to resist a penetrating force was determined by a fruit puncture analyser (GÜSS-FTA, Strand, South Africa) with a 5 mm diameter probe, as described by Arendse et al. [5]. The probe was set to penetrate 8.9 mm into the fruit at 10 mm s<sup>−</sup>1. The test was carried out on opposite sides of each of the 12 fruit per treatment, and the peak force (N) required to puncture the fruit was reported as puncture resistance mean ± standard error.
