Figure 2: Time series plot of temperature difference (ΔT=T_test−T_control).

In these representative data, dehiscence occurs near 7 min; 90 s prior, the temperature of the fruit begins to increase more rapidly than the control. The straight dashed line is the best linear fit to the data prior to 5.5 min, and extrapolation of this line defines ΔT and Δt. For this exploding (test) fruit, ΔT~2.2 °C and Δt~90 s. The inset (upper left) shows the raw data of the exploding and control fruit. The main graph has been shifted down 3.2 °C for clarity. Here error bars (tolerance) are for temperature (±0.05 °C), and are obtained from the infrared camera’s temperature sensitivity of ≤0.05 °C. This sample is one of nine trials.