Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Pomology Department, National Research Centre, 33 Bohouth St., Dokki, Giza, Egypt
2
2Horticultural Crops Technology Department, National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth St., Dokki, Giza, Egypt
Abstract
Cold storage is a widely used method for prolonging pomegranate fruit shelf life. However, low storage temperature may result in fruit decayed and chilling injury. So, this experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different storage temperature (5, 10, and 20 °C with 85-90% RH) for maintaining quality criteria and storage period prolongation of pomegranate fruits cv. wonderful during 2018 and 2019 seasons. Fruit quality characteristics i.e., fruit weight, volume, length, and diameter, total aril weight, total juice weight and color parameters, of skin, aril and juice were investigated. Soluble solids content (TSS), total acidity (TA), ascorbic acid content (vitamin C), and total anthocyanin content were measured periodically for a storage period of 30 days for 5, 3 and 2 months respectively. Results indicated that pomegranate fruits stored at 5°C showed lower weight loss percent and higher firmness than that occurred in fruit stored at 10 and 20°C with more expand storage period. Pomegranates stored at 5°C recorded the highest fruit weight, fruit volume, aril weight and juice weight with the lowest fruit specific gravity after four months. While, the highest fruit length and diameter were noted at 10°C storage after the third month. The highest anthocyanin content was recorded for pomegranate fruits after five storage months at 5 ° C. Lightness (L) and Chroma (C*) color parameters in skin and aril of wonderful pomegranate fruits had higher gradual increment compared with its values at harvest. Meanwhile, hue angle (H0) color parameter clarified remarkable reduction trend throughout different storage temperatures such as 5, 10 and 20 °C with expanding storage periods. On the other side, fruit juice color (Lightness (L*) and Chroma (C*)) cleared a significant decrease with a noticeable increment for hue angle (ho) respectively compared with initial value at harvest. From these results it can be concluded that cold storage at 5°C was better than storage at 10 and 20 °C for expanding the market duration of pomegranate fruits.
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