PREHARVEST GA₃ SPRAYS REDUCED CHILLING INJURY AND MAINTAINED QUALITY OF PLUMS DURING STORAGE

Chilling injury (CI) is the primary factor limiting postharvest life during storage and transport of plum fruits at low temperatures.
CI is usually manifested as dull coloration or breakdown and browning of internal tissues, loss of firmness and increased susceptibility to decay.
The effect of preharvest 100 ppm GA₃ sprays at three stages of fruit development combined with postharvest modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), intermittent warming (IW) on CI and fruit quality of plums were studied.
CI index and browning index (BI) of plums were decreased (p<0.05) by preharvest GA₃ treatments at three stages (a week before fruit expanding stage, fruit expanding stage, a week after fruit expanding stage). The optimum treatment was spraying 3 times at all three stages.
CI index and BI in this treatment were 36 and 49%, respectively compared with the control 49 days after postharvest MAP with PE film (0.04 mm) and IW (15 days interval between 0°C for 14 days and 20°C for 1 day) storage.
Moreover, the treatments also effectively maintained the firmness and soluble solids content (SSC), delayed the decrease of titratable acidity (TA) and ascorbic acid (ASA) content of the fruit.

VII International Postharvest Symposium

Y. Wang, Y.C. Li, Y. Bi, L.F. Wu, B. Ding

preharvest treatment, modified atmosphere packaging, intermittent warming

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2013.1012.32