Articles
Combined postharvest treatments to reduce chilling injury and maintain quality during ‘Hass’ avocado storage
Article number
1396_78
Pages
587 – 592
Language
English
Abstract
Avocado (Persea americana Mill.) is a subtropical climacteric fruit with a high sensitivity to low temperatures.
During cold storage chilling injury (CI) symptoms expressed in avocado fruit are abnormal ripening, darkening of the mesocarp, hardening of vascular strands, ‘off flavours’ due to lipids oxidation, pitting and darkening of the skin which causes weight loss as well making the commercialization impossible.
These symptoms develop after fruit are subsequently kept at room temperature.
For this reason, we have studied the effect of different postharvest treatments (1-methylcyclopropene and γ-aminobutyric acid) alone and combined to increase CI tolerance in ‘Hass’ avocados.
For this purpose, avocados were stored for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days at 5°C plus 5 days at room temperature.
Results showed that the treatments applied in combination improved several parameters of the general quality of the fruit in comparison with control fruit and with those treated with single compounds during storage.
The combined treatment delayed the postharvest deterioration process through maintenance of fruit colour, titratable acidity and soluble solids and decreased weight losses but with no significant effect on respiration rate.
CI symptoms were also minimized possibly due to a reduced electrolyte leakage.
For this reason, the synergistic effect of the combination of treatments may be recommended as an effective alternative strategy to prolong the postharvest quality of avocado during refrigerated storage.
During cold storage chilling injury (CI) symptoms expressed in avocado fruit are abnormal ripening, darkening of the mesocarp, hardening of vascular strands, ‘off flavours’ due to lipids oxidation, pitting and darkening of the skin which causes weight loss as well making the commercialization impossible.
These symptoms develop after fruit are subsequently kept at room temperature.
For this reason, we have studied the effect of different postharvest treatments (1-methylcyclopropene and γ-aminobutyric acid) alone and combined to increase CI tolerance in ‘Hass’ avocados.
For this purpose, avocados were stored for 0, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days at 5°C plus 5 days at room temperature.
Results showed that the treatments applied in combination improved several parameters of the general quality of the fruit in comparison with control fruit and with those treated with single compounds during storage.
The combined treatment delayed the postharvest deterioration process through maintenance of fruit colour, titratable acidity and soluble solids and decreased weight losses but with no significant effect on respiration rate.
CI symptoms were also minimized possibly due to a reduced electrolyte leakage.
For this reason, the synergistic effect of the combination of treatments may be recommended as an effective alternative strategy to prolong the postharvest quality of avocado during refrigerated storage.
Authors
M.C. Ruíz-Aracil, J.M. Valverde, M.I.M. Ilea, D. Valero, S. Castillo, F. Guillén
Keywords
Persea americana Mill, cold tolerance, shelf life, internal browning, ripening, γ-aminobutyric acid, 1-methylcyclopropene
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