The experiment was carried out with the objectives of to characterize thee it's harvesting maturity of 'Tommy Atkins' mangoes. The fruits were marked and evaluated on at 82 (E1), 89 (E2), 96 (E3) e and 103 (E4) days after flowering full bloom (DAF) and at the commercial harvesting stage (CSEC). Evaluations were carried out , on the day of the harvest and after 21 days of under refrigerated storage (13 ± 1° C e and 99 % R.H.). The characteristics evaluated were skin and pulp color, weight loss, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), total titrable acidity (TTA), TSS/TTA ratio, total soluble sugar and starch contents, and respiratory activity. It was concluded that, climacteric respiratory peaks happened were noticed after 10 days after harvest in mangoes harvested at stage E2 and after 7 days forin those harvested at stages E3 and CSEC. Fruits harvested at E2, E3, E4 and CS EC stages, ripened normally after 21 days of in refrigerated storage. Mangoes harvested at E3 and CS EC stages had similar behavior and showbehaved similarly and reached eating the high quality, indicating that harvest should can be done at these stages, and that 96 DAF should be considered as another harvest maturity index.
Mangífera indica L.; maturity index; ripening
