Pear Scanning

With today's Fruit Grower Report, I'm Bob Larson. A high-tech tool is being tested with the hopes of bringing ripe pears to market ... every time.

WSU Tree Fruit Physiology and Management Chair Stefano Musacchi says since the pears in a given orchard are harvested and stored at the same time, it's always been a challenge to separate the fruit picked on the outside of the tree, where they get more sun, from those on the inside in the shade ...

STEFANO MUSACCHI-SP-2X = 27 sec ... "The fruit that are in the canopy are not of the same level or ripening. If we can sort them with this tool in the packing house, reading over the packing line, so would be great! Because this way you can store the fruit that are more ripe in a different way compared to the fruit that are less ripe. So probably those that are more ripe are ready to go on the market earlier and the fruit that are less ripe they can be good for a long term storage."

Musacchi says the infrared scanner called a DA Meter could be a game-changer ...

STEFANO MUSACCHI-SP-3AX = 24 sec ..."This is a tool that can be used to give you an idea of the range of ripening that the fruits have along the canopy. In some cases, it can also be used also to optimize the best moment to pick because we know that there is some limit that cannot be used for different things. So this is quite important information, I think, and this tool can provide this kind of information."

The native of Italy says the DA Meter could be in regular use within 3 to 5 years.