Carnauba Wax and Modified Atmosphere in Refrigerated Preservation of ‘Tahiti’ Acid Limes

Abstract

Peel yellowing and loss of fruit mass reduce the useful life of acid limes and limit their commercialization. The goal of the present study was to prolong the post-harvest preservation of acid limes using wax and packaging. Fruits were harvested, selected, disinfected, treated with fungicide, coated with Carnauba wax and placed in cardboard boxes wrapped with different plastic packaging. A fruit lot treated only with wax coating was used as a control. The fruits were stored at 10°C for 24 days followed by 6 days at 20°C. The gas atmosphere inside the packages was analysed during storage. The loss of mass, color index, titratable acidity, and total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, soluble solids, acetaldehyde and ethanol concentrations of the fruits were measured. The combined use of wax coating and plastic Cryovac® D-955 (Cryovac Brasil Ltda, São Paulo, Brazil) and Vegetal Pack® (Eletropolimeros do Brasil Ltda, São Paulo, Brazil) films resulted in better post-harvest preservation of acid limes compared with only wax coating because the combined treatment maintained the green peel color following 30 days of storage in addition to resulting in lower loss of mass and maintaining chemical characteristics adequate for commercialization. The LDPE (low density polyethylene) and Xtend® packaging (Stepac Brasil Ltda, São Paulo, Brazil), although they prevented peel degreening, did not result in an adequate atmosphere to maintain the quality of limes due to the accumulation of high concentrations of acetaldehyde and ethanol, especially for the LDPE packaging. LDPE drastically changed the atmosphere surrounding the fruit, resulting in loss of the characteristic pulp color, in addition to conferring an alcohol odor. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.