Fruit quality preservation of 'Laetitia' plums under controlled atmosphere storage

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of controlled atmosphere (CA) on quality preservation of 'Laetitia' plums, mainly on internal breakdown, in order to determine the best CA storage conditions. Two experiments were carried out one in 2010, and another in 2011. In 2010, besides cold storage (CS; 21.0 kPa O2 + 0.03 kPa CO2), the fruits were stored under the following CA conditions (kPa O2+kPa CO2): 1+3, 1+5, 2+5, 2+10, and 11+10. In 2011, the fruits were stored under CS and CA of 1+0, 1+1, 2+1, and 2+2. The fruit stored under different CA conditions had lower respiration and ethylene production, better preservation of flesh firmness, texture and titratable acidity, lower skin red color, and lower incidence of skin cracking than the fruit in CS. In 2010, the fruit under CA with 2+5, 1+5, and 1+3 had a pronounced delay in ripening, although it exhibited a high incidence of internal breakdown. In 2011, the CA conditions with 2+1 and 2+2 provided the best delay in ripening and a reduced incidence of internal breakdown. The best CA condition for cold storage (at 0.5°C) of 'Laetitia' plums is 2 kPa O2 + 2 kPa CO2.

Quality Preservation of ‘Laetitia’ Plums in Active Modified Atmosphere Storage

“…However, there was no difference between treatments after three days shelf life (data not shown). In the 'Laetitia' plums, stored under controlled atmosphere, the low O 2 reduced the occurrence of cracks, compared to CS (STEFFENS et al, 2014), corroborating with the results of this study, and a higher occurrence of this disorder is possibly related to excessive fruit ripening.…”

“…The variables analyzed were flesh firmness, texture attributes (forces to peel rupture, flesh penetration and fruit compression), red color index (RCI), color of the epidermis (hº), intensity of internal browning (L), occurrence of cracking, rot and internal browning, respiratory and ethylene production rates, titratable acidity (TA) and soluble solids (SS), according to the methodology described in Corrêa et al (2011) and Steffens et al (2014).…”

“…'Laetitia' plums show rapid ripening and a reduced postharvest life, the storage period being limited by the rapid loss of flesh firmness and internal browning (SINGH; SINGH, 2013a;STEFFENS et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition, internal browning may be aggravated by the action of the ethylene (CANDAN et al, 2008;, as well as by a reduction of the energy metabolism, implying a lower energy supply for the maintenance of cell membranes (SAQUET et al, 2003). Storage conditions with excessive O 2 reduction or CO 2 increase raise the incidence and severity of internal browning (SINGH; SINGH, 2013a, STEFFENS et al, 2014, as they compromise the antioxidant system (SINGH; SINGH, 2013a).…”

“…'Laetitia' plums stored for 60 days in MA, where CO 2 accumulation occurred between 9.6 and 16 kPa, although this condition delayed fruit maturation, there was an increase in the incidence of internal browning (STEFFENS et al, 2009). However, MA conditions without CO 2 accumulation can be promising because controlled atmosphere conditions with low O 2 and CO 2 levels (up to 1 kPa) provided the best results for maintaining the quality of 'Laetitia' plums (STEFFENS et al, 2014). In this way, the use of CO 2 absorber inside the MA storage would be an alternative to reduce the partial pressure of this gas in the package and could delay the ripening of 'Laetitia' plums, without increasing the incidence and/or severity of internal browning.…”