Increase of Strawberry Fruit Shelf-life through Preharvest Spray of Calcium-chitosan and Post-harvest Treatment with High Pressure CO2

Abstract

This experiment examined the effects of preharvest Ca-chitosan spraying and short-term post-harvest treatment with high pCO2 on the shelf-life of 'Seolhyang' strawberry fruit. Fruit firmness decreased when harvested late in the season and was little affected by Ca-chitosan spray treatments. Short-term treatment with high pCO2 after harvest, however, significantly increased fruit firmness regardless of preharvest treatment. The combined treatment of Ca-chitosan spray and high pCO2 led to an additional increase in shelf-life through delay of skin disorder, fruit decay incidence and firmness loss during simulated marketing. The residual effects of both treatments, however, were reduced when fruit were harvested late in the season. Fruit firmness was more affected by high pCO2 treatment whereas decay and visual quality were affected by preharvest spraying with Ca-chitosan. Although more research is required to determine the optimum concentration of calcium and chitosan, and the optimal spray interval, our results show that the combined treatment of preharvest Ca-chitosan spray and postharvest high pCO2 is effective in improving strawberry fruit shelf-life by increasing firmness and delaying decay.