Quality of Pink Lady Apples in Relation to Maturity at Harvest, Prestorage Treatments, and Controlled Atmosphere during Storage

Abstract

Apple [Malus ×sylvestris (L.) Mill. var. domestica (Borkh.) Mansf. ‘Cripps Pink’] fruit were harvested yearly, at two or three maturity stages, from the same California orchard in 2002 through 2005. Fruit firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, background color, and percent blush were correlated with the starch pattern index at harvest. Fruit from each harvest were stored at 0.5 ºC in air or in a controlled atmosphere (CA) with 1.5 or 2 KPa O2 in combination with 1, 3, and 5 KPa CO2. Subsets of fruit were treated with 1 μL·L−1 1-methylcyclopropane for 24 hours at 0 ºC or 2200 μL·L−1 diphenylamine (DPA) for 5 minutes. Ethylene production was measured for 30 days after harvest. Ethylene concentration in the storage atmosphere was also monitored during storage. Fruit quality was evaluated after storage plus 5 days of ripening at 20 ºC. Fruit in a CA with 1 or 3 KPa CO2 maintained firmness and green background color, and produced less ethylene during ripening at 20 ºC than fruit stored in a CA with 5 KPa CO2; however, quality of all CA-stored fruit was better than air-stored fruit. Flesh browning developed only in CA storage, appearing by 2 months and not increasing in incidence with further storage periods. 1-Methylcyclopropane conserved fruit quality in air as well as CA during 4 months of storage, and DPA-treated fruit were firmer after CA storage, but similar after air storage, compared with untreated fruit. Diphenylamine did not control a stem-end scald disorder, which increased with time in storage and affected more than 80% of the fruit after 6 months of air storage.