Abstract
Gherkin presents short shelf life. Its quality is influenced by cultivation’s conditions which has scarce information in the literature. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of salinity on quality and post-harvest conservation of gherkin. For this, an experiment was carried out in a randomized block design, with treatments arranged in a 2 × 4 factorial scheme (two cultivars, ‘Do Norte’ and ‘Liso Gibão’ and four salinity levels; 2.0, 3.5 and 5.0 dSm-1), with three replicates, with the experimental unit being represented by six plastic vessels with capacity of 10 liters, each one with one plant. Harvest was carried out 60 days after planting of seedlings and the following analyzes were proceeded: length, fruit diameter; soluble solids content (SS); titratable acidity (TA); SS/TA ratio; total sugar content; chlorophyll and total phenolic content. The highest yield (‘Liso Gibão’) allowed the storage of fruits, stored in trays covered with PVC, at 15±2 °C and 85±2% RH for 0, 3, and 6 days. Increase in saline solution reduced fruit length and diameter and increased pH, soluble solids and SS/TA ratio. The cultivar ‘Liso Gibão’ was superior to ‘Do Norte’ cultivar for the variables length, diameter, pH, total sugars and SS/TA ratio. The fruits of the ‘Liso Gibão’ mixer can be stored for six days without loss of quality. Fruits cultivated with saline solution of 2.0 dS m-1 presented higher acidity and chlorophyll content during storage, but reduced total sugars and pH in fruits of gherkin.
Highlights
Gherkin (Cucumis anguria L.) is an horticultural species, non-conventional, in Cucurbitaceae botanic Family, appreciated for costumers in many places in Brazil, used in isolated forms, associated with other foods or processed as pickles (Lima et al, 2006)
A great part of gherkin production is limited due to the lack of specific farming practices for this crop, as its production is derivative from weed species which grow in areas cultivated with other crops, such as beans and corn (Oliveira et al, 2006)
The experiment was carried out in a randomized block design, with treatments arranged in a 2 × 4 factorial scheme, with three replicates, with the experimental unit being represented by six plastic vessels with a capacity for 10 liters of substrate, each one with one plant, using spacing of 1.5 m × 1.0 m
Summary
Gherkin (Cucumis anguria L.) is an horticultural species, non-conventional, in Cucurbitaceae botanic Family, appreciated for costumers in many places in Brazil, used in isolated forms, associated with other foods or processed as pickles (Lima et al, 2006).
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