Effect of Calcium Chloride on the Chemical Properties of the Refrigerated Fruits of the Apple Variety Golden Delicious

Abstract

This study aims to identify the possibility of using calcium chloride solutions to maintain the best quality of the fruits of the Golden Delicious apple variety stored in cold storage and grown under the conditions of the AL-Marj region in Libya. It was conducted during the 2017 and 2018 planting seasons, and the treatments included spraying with two concentrations of calcium chloride, namely (0% and 0.06%) where the first spray was a month after the peak of flowering, and the spraying was repeated three times, one spray every 30 days, after harvesting, the fruits were immersed before storage in calcium chloride solutions at concentrations of (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%) and stored for (120 days) at a temperature of zero Celsius. The obtained results showed that the use of calcium chloride sprayed on the fruits better preserved their quality compared to the non-sprayed ones. The immersion in calcium chloride solutions also preserved the quality of the fruits by increasing its concentration within the limits of the concentrations included in this study, which makes us conclude the important role of calcium chloride in maintaining the quality of the fruits of this variety.