Postharvest Hot Air Treatment to Maintain Fruit Quality of Nanfeng Mandarins During Storage

Abstract

Nanfeng mandarins are very sensitive to postharvest storage mainly because of fungal attracts. One of the most effective non-chemical handling practices for maintaining storage quality is the heat treatment. In general, heat treatment i) improves products resistance by activating some enzymes and/or ii) produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) in fungus cells and damage them. However, the heat temperature and duration are highly variable among the species and cultivars; and according to authors knowledge, there is not any information about heat treatment on Nanfeng mandarins. In this case, present study aimed to test the effects of different hot air flow (HAF at 37 °C) durations on the postharvest quality of Nanfeng mandarins. Studies were conducted in two consecutive phases. In the first phase, three different HAF durations (24 h, 36 h and 48 h) were tested together with un-treated control fruits for 100 days of storage. Results of first phase studies suggested that the 36 h of HAF provides best efficacy for controlling fruit decay and reducing weight loss. Then, this treatment was tested again together with control treatment and quality measurements were done regularly (10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100 days) for analysing some quality characteristics and enzymatic activities. According to the results obtained, the HAF treatment was comparatively effective in keeping soluble contents, sugar, vitamin C and acidity. The main mechanisms behind this success were found to be the reduced respiration rate and increased polyphenol oxidase (PPO) enzyme activity. Shortly, results suggested that the HAF for 36 h is effective in keeping the storage quality of Nanfeng mandarins.

Keywords

• Hot air flowing
• weight loss
• fruit decay
• biochemical changes
• enzymatic activities

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