Abstract
Understanding the experimental design and principles guiding gas mixture selection are important in the development of an optimal produce-specific modified atmosphere (MA) system. Exposure to gas combinations below or above the tolerance limit of fresh produce may result in subsequent undesirable changes in product quality and shortened shelf life. Therefore, this study investigated the design of an optimal gas combination for storage of pomegranate (cv. Wonderful) arils using the simplex lattice mixture design approach, and quantified the effects of temperature on the respiration rate of arils stored under an optimal gas atmosphere. The impact of initial gas composition was also determined by evaluating the physiological response and microbial quality (aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeast and mould). The correlation of simplex lattice design experimental data to the predicted response parameters were explained effectively by Scheffé’s special cubic model (R2 > 94%). Parameter estimates showed a significant (p ≤ 0.05) synergetic effect of single model components for all the response variables. The use of high CO2 concentration (>10 kPa) decreased ethylene production rate and microbial load, while reducing O2 to an acceptable level reduced respiration rate (RR). Based on the results obtained, the optimal gas composition was established as 4.67 kPa O2 +12.67 kPa CO2 + 82.67 kPa N2. Under this optimal atmosphere condition, increasing storage temperature by 10 °C resulted in a threefold increase in RR. These results demonstrate that optimum storage temperature also plays a critical role in the success of MA systems.
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