Crack initiation and propagation in sweet cherry skin: A simple chain reaction causes the crack to 'run'.

ABSTRACT: Rain cracking severely affects the commercial production of many fleshy-fruit species, including of sweet cherries. The objectives were to investigate how the gaping macroscopic cracks (macrocracks) of a rain-cracked fruit can develop from microscopic cracks in the cuticle (microcracks). Incubating fruit in deionized water is well known to cause significant macrocracking. We found that after a lag phase of 2 h, the numbers and lengths of macrocracks increased. Macrocrack number approached an asymptote at 12 h, whereas macrocrack length continued to increase. The rate of macrocrack propagation (extension at the crack tip) was initially 10.8 mm h-1 but then decreased to a near-constant 0.5 mm h-1. Light microscopy revealed three characteristic zones along a developing macrocrack. In zone I (

SUBMITTER: Schumann C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6668808 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature