Abstract
The present research intents to study skin fatty acids and physiological disorders developed during cold storage in ‘Golden Delicious’ apples treated with 1-MCP and calcium. Harvested fruits were treated with calcium chloride (Ca), 1-MCP (MCP), Ca + MCP or no treatment (control) and then subjected to cold storage at 0.5 °C for 6 months. Fatty acids’ composition, malondialdehyde (MDA) and the physiological disorders bitter pit (BP), superficial scald and diffuse skin browning (DSB) were measured at harvest and after storage plus 7 days of shelf-life at room temperature ≈22 °C. Palmitic acid decreased and linoleic acid increased over time, while oleic and stearic acids had few changes. Generally, unsaturated/saturated fatty acids and MDA increased over the storage period. Treatment with Ca showed that, at the end of the experiment, the lowest MDA values and the highest unsaturated/saturated fatty acids ratio were mainly due to higher linoleic and lower palmitic acids concentrations, which are coincident with less severe BP. There was no clear correlation between the measured fatty acids (palmitic, linoleic, oleic and stearic), unsaturated-to-saturated fatty acids ratio or MDA with chilling skin physiological disorders. Further research is needed to clarify the changes in membrane properties and the effect of some treatments in response to chilling injury during storage.
Highlights
To increase the postharvest life of fresh fruits, cold storage is the first aspect that needs to be considered, combined or not with other postharvest technologies
Four main fatty acids were identified in the apple peel: palmitic (16:0), stearic (18:0), oleic (18:1) and linoleic (18:2) acids (Figures 1 and 2)
A saturated fatty acid (SFA), was found in the highest percentage in the fruits at the harvest stage; after 7 days of shelf-life, there was a significant reduction in its percentage (Figure 1A)
Summary
To increase the postharvest life of fresh fruits, cold storage is the first aspect that needs to be considered, combined or not with other postharvest technologies. Apples (Malus domestica Borkh) can develop many physiological disorders during cold storage at 0 ◦ C, one of the most prominent of which is bitter pit (BP) together with superficial scald, causing significant losses to apple growers worldwide [3,4]. BP occurs mainly during the period of cold storage and is characterized by black spots in the pulp, which dehydrate with time and form depressions in the skin of the fruit, reducing the marketability and quality of apple [5]. In low concentrations in fruits, favors the formation of injuries that progress to the death of the tissues, leading to BP. This is because Ca has a role in the selective
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