Fruit detachment force Article author P. Rallo and G. Ben Ari Document classification 1.4.2. Fruit detachment force Text Olive fruit growth and development lasts for 4-5 months and includes five stages, the last of which is non-climacteric maturation (beginning about 180 days after anthesis). As in other fruit crops, fruit detachment force (DF) declines steadily as fruit matures. The DF of olive fruits increases from the fruit set (30 DPA), until fruits reach their full size, around the harvest season of table olives that takes place when fruits show a green-yellowish colour. Subsequently, fruit DF begins to decrease until it drops below 100g at 270 DPA, when ripening is concluded (Figure 3). Text Figure 3: Annual kinetics of changes in fruit detachment force (DF, g) after anthesis. Text The fruit detachment force varies between cultivars (Figure 4) and depends on the variety of fruit, as well as the number of days from anthesis. This should also be considered when choosing the cultivar, especially since at the harvest time of table olives, the fruit detachment force reaches its peak, as mentioned before. Figure 4: Fruit detachment (DF, g) force of various olive cultivars during table olive harvest time.