Physiological and chemical quality of carrots subjected to pre-and postharvest treatments

Abstract

Quality changes in preharvest ComCat® treated and untreated control carrots stored at 1 ± 0.5°C and ambient temperatures (16.7 to 29.5°C) and relative humidity (31 to 68%) were studied for more than 4 weeks. The carrots were analysed for headspace gases (O2, CO2, and N2), total soluble solids (TSS), ascorbic acid (AA) content, and peroxidase (POX) activity. The effect of chlorinated and anolyte water disinfecting treatments coupled with MAP was investigated. ComCat® treated carrots had higher TSS at harvest. TSS content was better maintained during storage in preharvest treated carrot. The preharvest ComCat® treatment had no significant effect on AA content and POX activity of carrots during storage, although it had slightly higher AA at harvest. During storage, these treatments when coupled with MAP which also had significant effects on TSS content of carrots. Disinfecting carrots in anolyte water significantly maintained the AA content and decreased the level of POX activity. The combined effect of pre-and postharvest treatments such as ComCat®, disinfecting, packaging and low temperature storage treatments had a significant positive effect on maintaining postharvest quality and improvement of the shelf-life of carrots. Key words: ComCat®, disinfection, packaging, storage, refrigeration, pre-harvest treatment.