Effect of short-term anoxia on chlorophyll and sensory attributes of ‘See-Thong’ carambola fruit

Change of surrounding atmosphere is a practical technique for extending shelf-life of fresh produces after harvesting.
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of short-term anoxia treatment on chlorophyll degradation and organoleptic properties of ‘See-Thong’ carambola fruit.
Different maturities of carambola fruits, namely ‘green-mature’, ‘color-break’ and ‘ripening’ stages, were used in this study.
The periods of anoxia treatment were set at 0 (control) and 24 h using humidified nitrogen gaseous with a flow rate at 100 mL min^‑1. Sensory quality attributes (using preference test; 5-points hedonic scales and disorder evaluations) were periodically analyzed for 2 days interval during storage at 25±2°C until commercially unmarketable.
The results showed that no significant differences were observed among maturity stages exposed to 24 h anoxia in overall appearance, freshness, and defect score whereas it showed a trend to higher score of sweetness.
However, stages of carambola showed significant difference.
It was found that the ‘green mature’ stage had the highest scores of overall appearance and freshness, following by ‘color-break’ and ‘ripening’ stage, respectively (P≤0.01) but the defect score in ‘color-break’ stage was the highest.
The sweetness in ‘green-mature’ stage was lower than ‘color-break’ and ‘ripening’ stage, respectively (P≤0.01) after 0 and 6 days of storage.
However, the scores of off-odor and off-flavor were undetectable in all treated samples throughout the storage period.
Exposure to anoxia did not affect chlorophyll a degradation in all stages. ‘Mature green’ stage had higher content of chlorophyll a than that of ‘color-break’ and ‘ripening’ stage (P≤0.01).

V Asia Symposium on Quality Management in Postharvest Systems

P. Yingsanga, C. Techavuthiporn

mature, color-break, ripening, stage, appearance

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1336.44