Articles
THE INFLUENCE OF POSTHARVEST CALCIUM TREATMENTS ON THE INTERNAL BROWNING OF PASSE CRASSANE PEARS
The present study was undertaken to establish the extent to which postharvest treatments with calcium are effective in controlling the disorder in pears originating from trees carrying different crop loads or from different positions on the same tree.
The main effects of these three principal factors were significant (p<0.01) while the interactions were shown to be non-significant.
The mean percentages of internal browning for each tree factor are given in Table 53.1. Crop
Table 53.1 PERCENTAGE OF PASSE CRASSANE PEARS AFFECTED BY INTERNAL BROWNING AFTER STORAGE FOR SEVEN MONTHS AT 0–1 °C
| Position of fruits on tree Postharvest treatment* Heavily cropping Lighty cropping Means for treatment Means for position | Low branch CaCl2 Water 0 11.8 23.5 42.0 11.8 26.9 19.3 | High branch CaCl2 Water 6.2 25.6 35.4 52.5 20.8 38.9 29.8 | Means for cropping class 10.8 38.4 |
*Benomyl added to both calcium chloride and water dips.
load was the most important factor determining the incidence of internal browning in pears stored for about seven months at 0–1 °C. The disorder was approximately 25 per cent less frequent in fruit from the heavily cropping trees than in those carrying only light crops.
Since the former trees had twice as many pears, the incidence of internal browning was reduced to about half that in the crop from the lightly-cropping trees.
The percentage of fruits with browning was higher in pears taken from the upper branches of the tree than in those from the lower ones.
Immersion in 5 per cent calcium chloride (with 0.1 per cent benomyl) solution effectively limited the onset of internal
Presented by Prof.
F. Gorini.