Articles
Apple fruit quality characteristics during long-term storage as a function of cool-down regime
Article number
1382_1
Pages
1 – 8
Language
English
Abstract
The design of refrigeration systems in the commercial storage of fruit is usually based on a linear calculation of the cooling load.
However, this entails that the systems are oversized for the subsequent storage period, resulting in unnecessarily high costs of investment, high energy consumption and an increased need for maintenance measures.
In a two-year trial, this study aimed to simulate how refrigeration systems with lower cooling capacity and consequently extended cooling periods, affected the preservation of apple fruit during long-term storage.
Different apple cultivars (Elstar, Jonagold and Pinova) were cooled to 1°C in three cooling durations (2, 7 and 14 days) and were subsequently stored for 3, 6 and 9 months under controlled atmosphere of 1.0 kPa O2 and 2.5 kPa CO2. At each sampling time, firmness (FF), titratable acidity (TA), peel ground color (PGC), total soluble solids (TSS) and mass loss were analyzed and subjected to a regression model.
Fruit mass loss was unaffected by the cool-down regime.
Cultivar and season were identified to have a greater effect on correlation coefficients and therefore quality conservation dynamics than the cool-down time.
Nonetheless, FF and PGC conservation showed a negative response to prolonged cool-down periods of 14 days, although the effects varied greatly between seasons and cultivars.
Cool-down time affected the type of regression curve in TA but no differences were observed in the final TA values after 9 months storage.
TSS values were found to be cool-down-independent.
A revised dimensioning of refrigeration systems can thus prove disadvantageous to the quality conservation of apple fruit due to a reduced cooling capacity and therefore longer cool-down times.
However, this entails that the systems are oversized for the subsequent storage period, resulting in unnecessarily high costs of investment, high energy consumption and an increased need for maintenance measures.
In a two-year trial, this study aimed to simulate how refrigeration systems with lower cooling capacity and consequently extended cooling periods, affected the preservation of apple fruit during long-term storage.
Different apple cultivars (Elstar, Jonagold and Pinova) were cooled to 1°C in three cooling durations (2, 7 and 14 days) and were subsequently stored for 3, 6 and 9 months under controlled atmosphere of 1.0 kPa O2 and 2.5 kPa CO2. At each sampling time, firmness (FF), titratable acidity (TA), peel ground color (PGC), total soluble solids (TSS) and mass loss were analyzed and subjected to a regression model.
Fruit mass loss was unaffected by the cool-down regime.
Cultivar and season were identified to have a greater effect on correlation coefficients and therefore quality conservation dynamics than the cool-down time.
Nonetheless, FF and PGC conservation showed a negative response to prolonged cool-down periods of 14 days, although the effects varied greatly between seasons and cultivars.
Cool-down time affected the type of regression curve in TA but no differences were observed in the final TA values after 9 months storage.
TSS values were found to be cool-down-independent.
A revised dimensioning of refrigeration systems can thus prove disadvantageous to the quality conservation of apple fruit due to a reduced cooling capacity and therefore longer cool-down times.
Authors
F. Büchele, P.V. Mahajan, T.G. Hoffmann, M. Geyer, D.A. Neuwald
Keywords
refrigeration, fruit quality, regression model, energy savings, PCA
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