Cooling sweet cherry fruits prolongs their use value

Abstract

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) fruits are characterised by a short shelf life. To extend the shelf life, pre-storage hydrocooling is carried out to reduce their temperature before storing them in the cold storage. During 2015 and 2016, hydrocooling treatment on fruits of two sweet cherry cultivars, 'Kordia' and 'Regina', from orchards on the locality of Trebinje, was performed. Samples of both cultivars were subjected to hydrocooling treatment in an automatic hydrocooling system at a temperature of 0.9 ºC for 10 minutes. The treated fruits were subjected to a cooling process before being placed in the cold storage, and the control fruits were put into the cold storage without hydrocooling. The fruits were placed for 15 days in NA cold storage at a temperature of 1 ºC and humidity of 85-95%. Analysis of fruit mass, colour, and firmness was performed on fruits after harvest and after storage. The results showed a significant positive effect of hydrocooling on fruit mass, i.e., treated fruits had less loss compared to the control fruits. The same fruits had higher fruit flesh firmness during cold storage. The fruit skin had the highest intensity of red colour in the harvesting time, while in treatment and control fruits in both years the intensity of the colour decreased during the cold storage. The year showed to have an impact on all examined characteristics of fruits of both cherry cultivars.