Intermittent warming of 'Tahiti' lime to prevent chilling injury during cold storage

Abstract

Storage of 'Tahiti' limes (Citrus latifolia) at low temperature allows the marketing period to be extended. However, the loss of the green skin color and the occurrence of chilling injury (CI) prevent this extension. The purpose of this work was to verify the efficiency of intermittent warming (IW) in 'Tahiti' lime quality maintenance during cold storage. Fruit were submitted to IW (20ºC for 48 hours every 7 or 14 days or 38ºC for 24 hours every 14 days) during cold storage at 5ºC. Fruit were also stored at 5 and 10ºC continuously. The evaluations were carried out after 30 and 60 days of storage (+ 3 days of simulated marketing at 20ºC). CI occurrence on fruit was not verified after 30 days of storage. However, after 60 days of storage 60% of the fruit kept continuously at 5ºC presented CI, while fruit intermittently warmed had 10 to 12.5% CI. Fruit stored at 10ºC did not present CI, but they showed high degreening after 30 days of storage. Fruit warmed at 38ºC for 24 hours every 14 days developed rot, loss of green skin color and vitamin C, high respiratory rates, as well as high levels of ethanol and acetaldehyde in the juice. Fruit can be stored at 5ºC during 30 days, without risk of CI, while IW can be used to reduce CI after 60 days of storage.