STORAGE ROTS, COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS, AND SENSORY QUALITY OF 3 CULTIVARS OF BUTTERCUP SQUASH

The susceptibility of 'Delica' buttercup squash (Cucurbita maxima D.) harvested at different maturities to develop rots in storage is report edly associated with aspects of flesh composition. The flesh compositi on and incidence of storage rots of two new cultivars of buttercup squ ash-'Kaboten' and 'Hybrid 176', were compared with 'Delica' to see if this association extended across cultivars. Sensory quality of the new cultivars was also compared with 'Delica', the New Zealand export ind ustry standard. 'Kaboten' had a lower proportion of fruit with rots be tween 4 and 16 weeks of storage at 12 degrees C but there was no diffe rence among cultivars during the 0-6 weeks field-to-market period for export squash. After 20 or more weeks of storage, a high proportion of fruit (10-30%) of all cultivars had rots. Although there were composi tional differences among cultivars, they were not associated with stor age life. 'Kaboten', the better keeping cultivar, could not be disting uished from 'Delica' by dry matter (DM), starch, sugar, or titratable acid levels. 'Delica' was the most liked cultivar and 'Kaboten' and 'H ybrid 176' were rated equally behind 'Delica'. 'Hybrid 176' had a drie r texture than the other cultivars and this was probably the result of its higher DM and starch contents at harvest.