Cantaloupe melon ( Cucumis melo L.) conservation using hydrocooling

Abstract

Maintaining cantaloupe melon at field temperature impairs conservation as it speeds up cell metabolism and transpiration, and, consequently, reduces shelf life. This study aimed to evaluate the conservation of Torreon hybrid cantaloupe using the hydrocooling treatment. Fruits were harvested at the commercial maturity stage (60 days after planting), in the morning, at the Nova California Farm, municipality of Mossoró-RN, in September 2007. One set of fruit was immersed in chilled water at 5 ºC for 5 min, at the packing house, while the remaining set was not hydro cooled. Then, both sets (treated and untreated with hydrocooling) were pre-cooled in air forced tunnels at 7 ºC, until the temperature in the pulp reached 10 ºC. Both fruit sets were stored for 0, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days under modified atmosphere at 3 ± 1 oC and 90 ± 5% RH. After each storage period, the fruits were incubated in an atmosphere-controlled chamber at 20 ± 2 oC and 80 ± 5% de RH, for seven days. The following characteristics were evaluated: external and internal appearance, mass loss, soluble solids, firmness and titrable acidity. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized split-plot design with four replications of three fruits. The plots consisted of the hydrocooling conditions (with and without fruit soaking in chilled water), and the sub-plots consisted of the storage times (0, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days).The treatment with hydrocooling was efficient in keeping the firmness and soluble solids of the fruits and shortened the pre-cooling time in the cooling tunnel. However, hydrocooling did not increase fruit shelf-life.

Evaluation of Low-Cost Smartphone-Based Infrared Cameras to Assess the Cooling and Refrigerated Storage Temperatures of Fresh Produce

“…The results showed that immersion hydrocooling could exponentially reduce the temperature of the lettuce, and the final internal temperature was stabilized at around 8 °C after 5 min. Similarly, Aroucha et al [ 29 ] found that hydrocooling was effective in maintaining the firmness and soluble solids of cantaloupe fruits and minimizing the precooling time in the forced air circulation tunnel. However, the hydrocooling did not extend cantaloupes shelf life.…”

Extended shelf life of melons using chitosan and graphene oxide‐based biodegradable bags

“…A high loss of flesh firmness during storage was also reported by Véras et al (2019) on 'Galia' melons, which had a reduction of 68% and 71% on this parameter when stored at 7°C for 14 days under normal and modified atmosphere, respectively. The reduction of firmness in melons during storage is reported in all studies about their conservation (Aroucha et al, 2016). Melons from cantaloupensis groups commonly have several and intense modifications in texture during ripening, which may result in poor storage capacity and short shelf life (Farcuh et al, 2020).…”

Experimental Analysis of a Spray Hydrocooler with Cold Energy Storage for Litchi

“…Vacuum cooling leads to water loss and is not suitable for products with a low surface-to-volume rate [13,14]. Hydrocooling could reduce water loss, avoid skin softening of crops, and is about 2-15 times faster than forced-air cooling under similar conditions [15,16]. Litchi, apple, cherry, sweet corn, radishes, Barhee dates, and carrots are precooled successfully using hydrocooling [8,[17][18][19].…”