QUALITY AND POSTHARVEST LIFE OF PEACH FRUITS GROWN IN EASTERN ARGENTINA

Peach in Argentina has been traditionally grown for domestic consumption, especially in the Province of Buenos Aires where the main market (ca. 14,000,000 consumers) is less than 200 km away from the production site.
Cultivar selection has therefore neglected storage life as a criterion of choice.
Opening of new markets, such as Brazil and potentially Europe, requires the development of new technologies and knowledge about the capability of the locally-grown cultivars to be shipped to new cunsumers.
The objective of this research work was to evaluate the storage performance and quality of peach cultivars grown in Eastern Argentina.

Fruits of ‘Ginart-Barcelo’, ‘Flavorcrest’, ‘Red Globe’, ‘Red Top’ and ‘Jersey Queen’ peach were used in the 1993/1994 season; fruits of ‘Flordaking’, ‘Springcrest’, ‘Ginart-Barcelo’, ‘Red Globe’ and ‘Fayette’ peach were used in the 1994–1995 season.
Fruits were evaluated to determine quality and postharvest life potential when stored from 0 to 35 days at 0°C. Samples of fruits were assesed for internal breakdown, firmness, flesh color (a*/b*), soluble solids content and titratable acidity, both at the day of withdrawal from the cold storage and after three days of shelf life, simulating marketing conditions.
Two of those cultivars were also stored at 5°C for 21 days to evaluate their susceptibility when stored at a temperature which can lead to formation of internal disorders.

Fruits of ‘Flordaking’, ‘Springcrest’, and ‘Ginart-Barcelo’ were able to retain acceptable quality during three to four weeks of storage at 0°C plus three days of simulated marketing conditions.
Internal breakdown (IB) was the main limitation to postharvest quality.
IB was less severe in early season than in late season cultivars.
Fruit of these cultivars has prospects of arriving at foreign markets by sea transport and arriving with acceptable quality.
Research on maturity stages at harvest as related to IB and the development of maturity indexes on one hand, and on the effect of temperatures higher than 0°C on the other, may be ways to help increase the quality of fruits upon arrival, and to develop management systems for reducing risk of IB development in fruit during transit.

International Postharvest Science Conference Postharvest 96

R. Murray, G. Valentini, A. Yommi, L. Arroyo, P. Ros, G. Velasco, F. Tonelli

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1998.464.101