Influence of Fruit Maturity and Growing District on Brown-core Disorder in ‘Bosc’ Pears

Abstract

Abstract ‘Bose’ pear fruits (Pyrus communis L.) grown in northern Oregon (NO, Hood River) and southern Oregon (SO, Medford) were harvested during the commercial harvest period and stored in either 1 % O2 with trace CO2 or in 5 other controlled atmosphere (CA) regimes, O2/CO2 at 0.5%/0%, 1.0%/0.5%, 1.5%/0.5%, 2.0/0.5%, and 2.5%/1.0%, for 6 months at −1°C in 1982, 1983, and 1984. Fruits from the NO were more susceptible to brown core (BC) disorder than those from SO. Late-harvested fruits, especially from NO, were more susceptible than early harvested ones. A low O2 concentration of <1% in CA storage without CO2 increased the potential for fruit to develop BC, and an elevated CO2 level enhanced the effect of low O2. Based on this study, it is recommended that ‘Bose’ pear fruits from NO can be safely stored in O2 not less than 1.5% with trace CO2 and those from SO in O2 as low as 1% with CO2 between 0 and 0.5% for 6 months at −1° with little probability of BC.