Redistribution of minerals in apple fruit during storage: Effects of storage atmosphere on magnesium and phosphorus concentrations

Abstract

AbstractThe median transverse redistribution of magnesium and phosphorus in Cox's Orange Pippin apples stored at 2·8°C or 4°C was investigated. The more detailed investigation at 4°C showed that phosphorus accumulated in the core zone throughout storage in air, but that the inward movement of magnesium was delayed in the early weeks when magnesium concentration increased in the peel. Storage atmospheres of 2 or 1·25% oxygen (<1% carbon dioxide) inhibited movement of both elements to the core zone and, for a few weeks following the establishment of a 1·25% oxygen atmosphere, magnesium was withdrawn from the core zone. An inward shift of magnesium from the peel to the inner cortex occurred several weeks prior to the development of visible low temperature breakdown symptoms in apples stored in 1·25% oxygen.Similarities between the effects of low oxygen and low temperature storage on the redistribution of magnesium and phosphorus and on the induction of low temperature breakdown are discussed.