{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T19:34:53Z","timestamp":1784144093562,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"PeerJ","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]],"date-time":"2023-05-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1683763200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001659","name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["KN 402\/19-1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KN 402\/19-1"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001659","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"name":"Open Access fund of the Leibniz Universit\u00e4t Hannover"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Fruit cracking is a commercially important disorder that reduces both quantity and quality of strawberries (<jats:italic>Fragaria<\/jats:italic> \u00d7 <jats:italic>ananassa<\/jats:italic> Duch.). The objective was to identify the physiological mechanism of cracking and the factors affecting cracking. Cracking is more common in necked than in normal-shaped fruit. Most macroscopic cracks (\u2018macrocracks\u2019) occur in the seedless neck. Large fruit is more cracking susceptible than medium size or small fruit. Macrocrack orientation is predominantly latitudinal in the proximal region of the neck and longitudinal in the mid and distal regions of the neck. The neck region of necked fruit has a thicker cuticle than the body of necked or normal-shaped fruit. The vascular bundles in the neck (seedless) are orientated longitudinally, while those in the body (with seeds) are both longitudinal and radial. Epidermal cells in the neck region are elongated longitudinally, with those in the proximal region of the neck being more elongated than those in the mid or distal regions of the neck. Cuticular microcracking was more severe in necked fruit than in normal-shaped fruit. The orientations of the microcracks matched those of the macrocracks, <jats:italic>i.e<\/jats:italic>., latitudinal in the proximal neck and longitudinal in the mid and distal neck regions. Following artificial incisions (blade), gaping was significantly more pronounced in necked than in normal-shaped fruit. Incubation of fruit in deionized water induced macrocracks in about 75% of fruit. Necked fruit cracked more than normal-shaped fruit. Most macrocracks were oriented latitudinally in the proximal neck and longitudinally in the distal neck regions. The results indicate cracking results from excessive growth strains which are further increased by surface water uptake.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.15402","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]],"date-time":"2023-05-11T07:41:28Z","timestamp":1683790888000},"page":"e15402","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Necked strawberries are especially susceptible to cracking"],"prefix":"10.7717","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Grecia","family":"Hurtado","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Moritz","family":"Knoche","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"4443","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.21273\/HORTSCI.5.4.223","article-title":"Relation of stress-strain properties of tomato skin to cracking of tomato fruit","volume":"5","author":"Batal","year":"1970","journal-title":"HortScience"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.5073\/vitis.2012.51.1-6","article-title":"Deposition, strain, and microcracking of the cuticle in developing \u2018Riesling\u2019 grape berries","volume":"51","author":"Becker","year":"2012","journal-title":"Vitis"},{"issue":"4","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"415","DOI":"10.1007\/s10658-006-0007-3","article-title":"Relationship between concentrations of Botrytis cinerea conidia in air, environmental conditions, and the incidence of grey mould in strawberry flowers and fruits","volume":"114","author":"Blanco","year":"2006","journal-title":"European Journal of Plant Pathology"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"297","DOI":"10.1079\/9780851989365.0000","article-title":"Rain-induced cracking of sweet cherries. Its causes and prevention","volume-title":"Cherries: Crop Physiology, Production and Uses","author":"Christensen","year":"1996"},{"issue":"1","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"79","DOI":"10.1080\/00221589.1982.11515027","article-title":"Physical aspects of fruit growth: cuticular fracture and fracture patterns in relation to fruit structure in Vitis vinifera","volume":"57","author":"Considine","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of Horticultural Science"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-6","volume-title":"The strawberry. History, breeding and physiology","author":"Darrow","year":"1966"},{"issue":"6","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"383","DOI":"10.21273\/JASHS.137.6.383","article-title":"Stress and strain in the sweet cherry skin","volume":"137","author":"Grimm","year":"2012","journal-title":"Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science"},{"issue":"1\u20132","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1080\/15538362.2012.696982","article-title":"Rain damage on three strawberry cultivars grown in subtropical Queensland","volume":"13","author":"Herrington","year":"2013","journal-title":"International Journal of Fruit Science"},{"issue":"6","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"832","DOI":"10.21273\/HORTSCI.46.6.832","article-title":"Rain damage to strawberries grown in southeast Queensland: evaluation and genetic control","volume":"46","author":"Herrington","year":"2011","journal-title":"HortScience"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"483","DOI":"10.17660\/ActaHortic.2009.842.98","article-title":"Cultivar differences in tolereance to damages by rainfall","volume":"842","author":"Herrington","year":"2009","journal-title":"Acta Horticulturae"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-11","volume-title":"Inhaltsstoffe von Obst und Gem\u00fcse","author":"Herrmann","year":"2001"},{"issue":"6","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1123","DOI":"10.1007\/s00425-011-1562-1","article-title":"Flower and early fruit development in a diploid strawberry, Fragaria vesca","volume":"235","author":"Hollender","year":"2012","journal-title":"Planta"},{"issue":"5","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0251351","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0251351","article-title":"Strawberry fruit skins are far more permeable to osmotic water uptake than to transpirational water loss","volume":"16","author":"Hurtado","year":"2021","journal-title":"PLOS ONE"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"694123","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2021.694123","article-title":"Water soaking disorder in strawberries: triggers, factors, and mechanisms","volume":"12","author":"Hurtado","year":"2021","journal-title":"Frontiers in Plant Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3895","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-023-31020-0","article-title":"Detached, wetted strawberries take up substantial water in the calyx region","volume":"13","author":"Hurtado","year":"2023","journal-title":"Scientific Reports"},{"issue":"3","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scienta.2011.02.002","article-title":"Fruit growth, cuticle deposition, water uptake, and fruit cracking in jostaberry, gooseberry, and black currant","volume":"128","author":"Khanal","year":"2011","journal-title":"Scientia Horticulturae"},{"issue":"4","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"667","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0031-9317.2004.0285.x","article-title":"Changes in strain and deposition of cuticle in developing sweet cherry fruit","volume":"120","author":"Knoche","year":"2004","journal-title":"Physiologia Plantarum"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"140","DOI":"10.1079\/9781780648378.0140","article-title":"Rain-induced cracking of sweet cherries","volume-title":"Cherries: Botany, Production and Uses","author":"Knoche","year":"2017"},{"issue":"2","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"135","DOI":"10.1080\/14620316.2020.1808086","article-title":"A review of productivity in strawberries: marketable yield has a linear, but inconsistent relationship with total yield, and cannot be predicted from total yield","volume":"96","author":"Menzel","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology"},{"issue":"3","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"334","DOI":"10.21273\/HORTTECH.24.3.334","article-title":"The productivity of strawberry plants growing under plastic high tunnels in a wet subtropical environment","volume":"24","author":"Menzel","year":"2014","journal-title":"HortTechnology"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-21","article-title":"Strawberry: recommendations for maintaining postharvest quality","author":"Mitcham","year":"1996"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-22","volume-title":"Physicochemical & environmental plant physiology","author":"Nobel","year":"1999"},{"issue":"1","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1104\/pp.30.1.78","article-title":"The isolation of plant cuticle with pectic enzymes","volume":"30","author":"Orgell","year":"1955","journal-title":"Plant physiology"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-24","volume-title":"Modern analysis of biological data: generalized linear models in R","author":"Pek\u00e1r","year":"2016"},{"issue":"4","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.21273\/JASHS.130.4.487","article-title":"Characterization of microcracks in the cuticle of developing sweet cherry fruit","volume":"130","author":"Peschel","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science"},{"key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-26","article-title":"R: a language and environment for statistical computing","author":"R Core Team","year":"2018"},{"issue":"1","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1080\/00221589.1980.11514897","article-title":"Growth stress during fruit development in \u2018Cox\u2019s Orange Pippin\u2019 apples","volume":"55","author":"Skene","year":"1980","journal-title":"Journal of Horticultural Science"},{"issue":"6","key":"10.7717\/peerj.15402\/ref-28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"653","DOI":"10.21273\/JASHS03937-16","article-title":"Rain cracking in sweet cherries is not due to excess water uptake but to localized skin phenomena","volume":"141","author":"Winkler","year":"2016","journal-title":"Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science"}],"container-title":["PeerJ"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/15402.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/15402.xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/15402.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/15402.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]],"date-time":"2023-05-11T07:41:42Z","timestamp":1683790902000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/peerj.com\/articles\/15402"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]]},"references-count":28,"alternative-id":["10.7717\/peerj.15402"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.7717\/peerj.15402","archive":["CLOCKSS","LOCKSS","Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["2167-8359"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2167-8359","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,11]]},"article-number":"e15402"}}