Characterization and Quantification of Postharvest Losses of Apple Fruit Stored under Commercial Conditions

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to characterize and quantify postharvest losses of apples under commercial conditions in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Two experiments were conducted using ‘Gala’ and ‘Fuji’ apples. The first experiment was to characterize and quantify the most important causes of loss of fruit treated or not treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) then held in controlled atmosphere (CA) storage. This experiment was conducted in commercial storage facilities from 2007 to 2010. In each year, 10 samples of ≈380 kg each for ‘Gala’ and 400 kg each for ‘Fuji’ were collected from bins of commercially harvested fruit from each of 15 ‘Gala’ and 17 ‘Fuji’ orchards. Half of the samples from each orchard were treated with 1-MCP at harvest. Fruit were stored in CA, at 0.7 °C, for 150 to 300 days. After storage, one subsample of 100 disorder-free apples were selected from each sample and held at 22 °C for 7 days to simulate shelf-life conditions. The fruit were analyzed after CA storage and shelf life for the incidence of disorders. The second experiment was conducted in 2011 to identify the main fungi causing decay during storage. In this study, apples were stored in 10 commercial CA storage rooms at 0.7 °C for 180 to 240 days. After storage, fruit with decay symptoms were collected at the commercial sorting line. A total of 10 samples of 100 decayed apples were taken throughout the sorting period for each cultivar and storage room. The fungal decays were identified by visual symptoms on each fruit. Total apple losses during storage varied from 3.9% to 12.1% for ‘Gala’ and 6.6% to 8.4% for ‘Fuji’, depending on the year and 1-MCP treatment. During storage, deterioration caused by fungal decay was ≈60% and 80% of total losses for ‘Gala’ and ‘Fuji’, respectively. During shelf life, additional losses caused by fungal decay ranged from 8.4% to 17.6% for ‘Gala’ and 12.4% to 27.2% for ‘Fuji’, depending on the year. Senescent breakdown and superficial scald were the major physiological disorders. 1-MCP treatment had no effect on losses due to decay. Bull’s-eye rot, blue mold, gray mold, and alternaria rot were the most prevalent fungal decay symptoms, accounting for 52%, 27%, 9% and 10% of ‘Gala’ losses and 42%, 25%, 18% and 5% of ‘Fuji’ losses, respectively. Sources of variability for losses among years and orchards is discussed.

Maintenance of ‘Luiza’ apple fruit quality as affected by postharvest practices

“…Longer storage durations can increase the opportunity for postharvest infection and fungal development in fruit (KIM and XIAO, 2006;NERI et al, 2009). Decay occurrence in 'Luiza' fruit was lower than that found in 'Gala' and 'Fuji' apples stored in CA under commercial conditions (ARGENTA et al, 2021). These authors reported that losses caused by fungal decay during storage ranged from 8.4% to 17.6% for 'Gala' apples, depending on the year.…”

“…1-MCP was effective in reducing fungal decay in air storage. Previous studies have reported that the effects of 1-MCP in reducing fungal decay is variable, which can reduce (CAMDELI et al, 2016), increase (JANISIEWICZ et al, 2003) or have no effect (ARGENTA et al, 2021).…”

“…Furthermore, apple cultivars differ in susceptibility to physiological disorders during storage (WATKINS; MATTHEIS, 2019). Decay and physiological disorders, such as flesh browning and superficial scald, are the leading cause of apple losses (KADER, 2005;ARGENTA et al, 2021), influenced by harvest maturity, storage condition (temperature, O 2 and CO 2 partial pressure), and ethylene management.…”

Storability of 'SCS417 Monalisa' apple as affected by harvest maturity, 1-methylcyclopropene treatment, and storage atmosphere

“…bras., Brasília, v.58, e03121, 2023 DOI: 10.1590/S1678-3921.pab2023.v58.03121 maturity, air-stored and not exposed to 1-MCP; this fact was associated to the faster reduction of TA during storage (Figure 3 B). Fungal decay is the main cause of apple losses after harvest, representing 60 to 80% of total losses of 'Gala' and 'Fuji' apples, respectively, under commercial conditions in Brazil (Argenta et al, 2021). The severity of fungal decay increased during storage in 'SCS417 Monalisa' apples which were highly affected by the harvest maturity, 1-MCP treatment, and storage atmosphere conditions (Tables 3 and 4).…”

“…Severity (2) Incidence (%) correlation between the incidence of fungal decay and flesh firmness may occur especially for early season cultivars, depending on the growing season (Argenta et al, 2021). A remarkable fact is that the CA storage conditions reduced the decay severity to a similar level as that of air storage with 1-MCP treatment.…”