Importance of fruit colour with reference to apple fruit and health

Importance of fruit colour                    


Colour in nature


The colour in nature, its manifestations in the organic world and the complex colour reactions between plants and animals is an interesting phenomenon. It traces the origin of the colour sense in insects to their visits to primeval flowers in order to feed upon the pollen and in birds to their seeking for fruits, whose seeds they dispersed and whose colours were developed to attract them. It shows that the very existence of most of the brilliant colours of the organic world is due to the influence of the colour sense in animals. Animals develop a taste for colour which arouses by the influence of flowers, fruits, or brilliant insects, their habitual food.



Hornbills preferred red and purple fruits over other colours and they preferred large, heavy fruits over smaller fruits. Colour likely provides the cue to ripeness. Silvereyes also preferred red artificial fruits when they were offered with white and yellow fruits against a green background. Red on green is one of the strongest hue contrasts to human eyes. It has often been suggested that red fruits are particularly conspicuous against a background of green leaves and that this may make them especially effective in attracting frugivores.