New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science abstracts
Apple (Malus domestica) softening in the postharvest coolchain:
effects of delayed cooling and shelf-life temperatures
Jason W. Johnston1
Errol W. Hewett2,*
Maarten L. A. T. M. Hertog3
Institute for Food, Nutrition and Human Health
Massey University
Private Bag 11 222
Palmerston North, New Zealand
email: E.W.Hewett@massey.ac.nz
1Present address: Plant Conservation Group, School of Contemporary
Science, University of Abertay, Kydd Building, Bell St, Dundee, Scotland,
DD1 1HG, United Kingdom.
2 Present address: Institute for Food, Nutrition and Human
Health, Massey University Albany Campus, North Shore Mail Centre, Private
Bag 102 904, Auckland, New Zealand.
3Present address: Flanders Laboratory of Postharvest Technology,
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, W. de Croylaan 42, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract ‘Royal Gala’ and ‘Cox’s Orange Pippin’ apples
(Malus domestica) soften rapidly after harvest, resulting in poor fruit
quality after extended periods of storage and transportation. This study
sought to characterise the effects of delayed cooling, intermittent warming,
and exposure to shelf-life temperatures on softening of these cultivars during
postharvest handling. Rapid cooling of freshly harvested fruit to cold-storage
temperatures delayed the onset of rapid softening and improved the firmness
market life of both cultivars. Fruit transferred temporarily from 0.5-3°C
to ambient temperatures (10-20°C) were softer once returned to 0.5-3°C,
an effect exacerbated by increased temperature and duration of the break
in the coolchain. Storage temperature and duration did not affect subsequent
softening rates of either cultivar at 20°C. Softening rates, derived
from constant temperature treatments, were able to describe softening in
fruit treated with stepwise changes in temperature, indicating that rate of
softening at a given temperature was not affected by prior exposure to temperatures
between 0.5 and 20°C. Results from this research could be used to develop
models that estimate softening of both cultivars during postharvest handling.
Keywords Malus domestica; firmness; ethylene;
coolchain; quality; empirical modelling
H04105; Online publication date 22 July 2005 Received 2 December 2004;
accepted 31 March 2005
New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science, 2005, Vol. 33:
283-292
0014-0671/05/3303-0283 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2005
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