Mature 'Hass' avocado (Persea americana Mill.) fruit were enclosed in sealed polyethylene bags and stored at ambient temperatures for different times. Modified atmospheres developed inside the bags and fruit stayed firm and apparently non-ripening while they remained enclosed. Storage time and temperature influenced ripening of fruits after they were removed from bags. Most storage treatments resulted in an extension to the total postharvest life of fruits compared to control fruits which were not stored in such bags. Abnormal ripening characteristics were observed when storage temperature was high and storage time exceeded 8 days.
INTRODUCTIONThe time taken by harvested mature avocado fruit to become ripe, i.e. soft and edible, is regulated by the interaction between endogenous fruit factors and postharvest environmental conditions. The later in the season that mature fruit are harvested, the less time they take to ripen (Adato and Gazit, 1974b), but the rate of ripening is inversely related to endogenous calcium levels in the fruit (Tingwa and Young, 1974). After harvest, water-deficit stress (Adato and Gazit, 1974a) and treatment with exogenous ethylene (C2H4) (Gazit and Blumenfeld, 1970) accelerates the initiation of ripening, but low temperature causes a marked retardation in ripening rate (Aharoni et al., 1968). Hence, when there is little or no control of the postharvest environmental conditions, the shelf life of avocado fruit becomes difficult to predict and serious problems of marketing may result.Although temperature control is generally regarded as the most effective means of extending the postharvt life of perishable fruit, refrigerated post-0304-4238/81/0000--0000/$02.50
Visible injury in chilled avocados (Persea americana Mill.) was observed first in the distal end of fruit. The proximal end remained apparently unaffected unless exposure to chilling temperature was prolonged. In contrast, the concentration of endogenous Ca of individual fruit was always highest in the proximal end and lowest in the distal end. Severity of visible injury in stored fruit was significantly reduced when Ca was applied to harvested fruit by vacuum infiltration of CaCI2·
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