Influence of film wrapping and UV irradiation on cactus pear quality after storage

Abstract

‘Gialla’ cultivar (cv) cactus pear fruit were either exposed or not to ultraviolet light (UV-C at 254 nm) and packaged or not with a polyolefinic film before cold storage for 1 month at 9°C plus 1 week of simulated shelf-life conditions at 20°C (SL). UV exposure did not affect fruit weight loss, while wrapping reduced significantly these losses to 1/4 after cold storage and 1/10 at the end of SL, with respect to unpackaged fruit. The overall visual rating of fruit appearance was higher in all the packaged fruit, while those unwrapped were affected by extended skin shrinkage both at the end of storage and SL periods. Skin damage, attributed to chilling injury and UV exposition, resulted higher in unwrapped fruits, in which the onset of these disorders was significantly reduced even when the fruit was UV subjected. Decay percentage was neither reduced by UV exposure nor by wrapping and reached values of about 10% at the end of the SL in all cases. Internal quality attributes and fruit taste were neither affected by wrapping nor by UV application. Wrapping the fruit with polyolefinic film had a beneficial effect in preserving fruit freshness and colour brightness, which were lost in unwrapped fruit.