Bruise Susceptibility and Impact on Quality Parameters of Pears During Storage

Pankaj B Pathare,Mai Al-Dairi

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.658132

Abstract

Bruise damage is one of the mechanical injury problems that could appear in fresh produce during the post-harvest supply chain. The study investigated three main effects (drop impact level, storage temperature, and storage duration), which can expand the level of bruising and cause some quality changes that contribute to the damage of pear. Pear fruit samples were purchased from the market and delivered to the post-harvest laboratory. Each pear was impacted by a ball with a known mass at three different drop heights (20, 40, and 60 cm), stored at 22°C with 45 ± 5% RH and 10°C with 85 ± 5% RH for 14 days storage period. Bruise area (BA), bruise volume (BV), and bruise susceptibility (BS) were calculated. Different quality analyses were done like color, firmness, and total soluble solids (TSS). Analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression analysis, and pearson correlation coefficient were performed. With increasing drop height and temperature for 14 days storage, BA, BV, BS, lightness (L*), yellowness (b*), color saturation (Chroma), and total color difference increased. However, firmness was highly reduced (92.82%) due to the increase in drop height (60 cm), storage temperature (22°C), and storage duration (14 days). Color purity (Hue), redness (a*), and TSS were not affected by drop height (impact level). A strong relationship with a strong linear regression (R2) was found between BS and CIEL*,a*, andb*color coordinates. A positive and strong correlation was also found between BS and CIEL*a*b*color parameters with a strong and negative correlation with firmness. Overall, this study can be considered as guideline for horticulture researchers and in fresh produce supply chain during post-harvest operations.

Highlights

Pear (Pyrus spp.) ranked second among the fruit produced and consumed in the world (Lipa et al, 2019)
Effect of Drop Height, Storage Temperature, and Storage Duration on Bruise area (BA), bruise volume (BV), and Impact Energy of Bruised Pears Table 2 shows the values of BA and BV of selected pear fruits at different heights and storage temperatures for 14 days period
Pear fruits impacted at the highest drop height and impact energy (60 cm 0.647 J) showed the highest increase in BA, BV, and bruise susceptibility (BS)

Summary

Introduction

Pear (Pyrus spp.) ranked second among the fruit produced and consumed in the world (Lipa et al, 2019). Impacts cause irreversible damage to the external and internal structure, consisting mostly in the mechanical deformation of both the fruit peel and the spatial deformation of flesh cells. The attractiveness of the pear is determined by the lack of mechanical defects on the fruit surface. Bruise Susceptibility Pear During Storage of mechanical damage that reduces fruit quality and causing considerable post-harvest losses. The presence of bruising and other types of mechanical damage (cuts, puncture, split, abrasion) causes significant economic loss of fresh produce due to downgrading or rejection of the appearance quality by the consumer. Minimizing the post-harvest losses and enhancing the storage potential are the major goals for growers

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