*2.5. Fruit Firmness and Microbial Decay*

The texture analysis was performed using an HD-Plus texture analyzer (Stable Micro Pedicels Ltd., Godalming, UK) and the Texture Expert Exceed Software for the data analysis. The determination of the textural characteristics of whole fruits was conducted with a cylindrical probe of 2 mm diameter and movement speeds of 1 mm/s during the test, 5 mm/s for the pre-test and 10 mm/s for the post-test. The compression depth was set at 5 mm, the measurement was conducted at the equatorial zone in each fruit and the results were expressed as the maximum recorded force in N.

Each fruit was visually assessed for decay incidence (molds and other infections), and the presence (=1) or absence (=0) of any decay symptom was expressed as the mean of 10 fruit per replicate.
