Effects of pre-storage heat treatment on fruit ripening and decay development in different apple cultivars

Abstract

Apple fruits of different cultivars were heat-treated at 38°C for 4 d immediately after harvest, then stored at 0°C for 6 weeks ('Gala') or 4 months ('Golden Delicious' and 'Red Fuji'). Upon removal from storage, fruits were kept for 7 d at 20°C as a shelf-life test. During storage and shelf-life, various ripeness parameters were measured. 'Golden Delicious' and 'Red Fuji' apples were artificially inoculated with Penicillium expansum or Botrytis cinerea before heat treatment, then stored at 20°C for 3 weeks, or 0°C for 6 weeks, and the development of fruit decay was recorded. The respiration rate decreased and the ratio of soluble solids contents (SSC): titratable acidity (TA) increased for all heattreated fruits. For 'Gala' and 'Golden Delicious' apples, heat treatment significantly reduced ethylene evolution, reduced softening during cold storage, and reduced membrane electrolyte leakage after cold storage and shelf-life. Better quality was maintained at the end of the shelf-life for these two cultivars. However, the effects of heat treatment on ethylene production, membrane electrolyte leakage and texture parameters of 'Red Fuji' apples were not significant. The rotting caused by P. expansum or B. cinerea was very severe, especially for apples stored at 20°C. However, decay was completely inhibited in 'Golden Delicious' and 'Red Fuji' apples that had been heat-treated after inoculation. It was concluded that the response to heat treatment varied according to cultivar. Pre-storage heat treatment could delay the ripening of 'Gala' and 'Golden Delicious' apples and maintain storage quality. Although heat treatment gave no beneficial effects on the quality of 'Red Fuji' apples, it could be applied to control disease in this apple cultivar.

A Combination of Heat Treatment and Chitosan Coating Delays Ripening and Reduces Decay in “Gala” Apple Fruit

“…These findings are in agreement with previous reports of HT on apple fruit (Lurie and Klein 1990; Klein et al . 1998; Shao et al . 2007).…”

“…In contrast, no heat damage could be found on the apples heat‐treated before CTS coating (HT + CTS) during the whole storage. After the HT at 38C for 4 days, the respiration rate declines to near or below the level of the nonheated control apples (Klein and Lurie 1990; Lurie and Klein 1990; Shao et al . 2007).…”

“…It has been shown to reduce ethylene production in banana (Ghasemnezhad et al . 2008) and apple (Shao et al . 2007) fruits, delay softening in strawberry (Martínez and Civello 2008), improve tolerance to chilling injury in mandarins, tomato and pomegranate (Mirdehghan et al .…”

Effect of heat treatment on physiochemical, colour, antioxidant and microstructural characteristics of apples during storage

“…HT could decrease firmness loss and maintain a higher soluble solids/titratable acid ratio in apples after regular cold storage (Porritt & Lidster, ; Klein & Lurie, ; Lurie & Klein, ; Saftner et al ., , ). It has been shown to reduce ethylene production and control superficial scald in apple (Jemric et al ., ; Shao et al ., ), reduce ethylene production and inhibit peel spotting in banana (Ghasemnezhad et al ., ; Kamdee et al ., ), delay softening in strawberry (Martínez & Civello, ), improve tolerance to chilling injury in mandarins, tomato and pomegranate (Mirdehghan et al ., ; Ghasemnezhad et al ., ; Lu et al ., ), and HT was also effective in controlling against various postharvest diseases on grapefruit (Pavoncello et al ., ), pineapple (Wijeratnam et al ., ), cherry tomato (Zhao et al ., ), loquat (Liu et al ., ), strawberry (Jing et al ., ), peach and nectarine (Jemric et al ., ). However, the response to heat treatment may be cultivar specific (Shao et al ., ).…”

Efficacy of Local Bioresources and Chemical Treatment against Quality Parameters of White Rot Inoculated Apple Fruits

“…Ismail et al, (2006) reported that chemical and physical characteristics of the fruits influenced their mechanical and rheological properties, which in turn can be indicators of firmness and ultimately of quality. Postharvest treatment offers a pesticide free method to kill or weaken plant pathogens, control insect infestations and maintain fruit storage quality (Barkai-Golan and Phillips, 1991;Shao et al, 2007). From the last few years, the use of various chemicals, waxing material and fungicide are becoming popular among growers in order to enhance the shelf life of fruits.…”