Chlorophyll Degradation During Controlled‐atmosphere Storage of Asparagus

Abstract

Changes during CA (controlled-atmosphere) storage of excised shoots of asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L) were studied. Storage in 5% CO,, at 35°F and 95% relative humidity resulted in increased pH, decreased total acidity and total solids, and an increase in soluble solids. There was also more retention of chlorophylls in the CA-stored asparagus. These effects became more pronounced as the concentration of CO, in the atmosphere was increased. The degradation products of chlorophylls in the CA-stored samples ware exclusively the pheophytins. Correlations between changes in pH and the degradation of chlorophylls ware made.

Enzymatic changes in plum (Prunus salicina Lindl.) subjected to some chemical treatments and cold storage.

“…All the treatments resulted in a continuous increase in the Ba^and Bb^values with the increase in storage period and attained maximum value of 27.62 for 'a' and 23.55 for 'b' at the end of storage period (Table 3). The colour development during storage might be due to the degradation of the chlorophyll pigments of the fruits and increased synthesis of carotenoids and anthocyanin pigments (Wankier et al 1970;Wang et al 1971). The colour development was much faster in control fruits.…”

Resolution of kinetic system of simultaneous degradations of chlorophyll a and b by PARAFAC

“…Therefore, many researchers make great effort to elucidate the mechanism of degradation from chlorophyll to pheophytin formed by substitution of hydrogen ion to magnesium ion in the porphyrin ring of chlorophyll [8], which is well known to be the main cause of loss of green color in coleslaw [8], green leaves [9], asparagus [10], and olive [11] (the structures of chlorophyll a and b are shown in Fig. 1).…”

“…By now, to our knowledge, most of the traditional studies on degradation reaction of chlorophyll have been conducted either with chromatography to separate the pigments followed by spectrophotometric determination of each pigment of interest [7,11], or by measuring the spectrophotometric response of treated mixture of pigments at different specific wavelengths, then solving simultaneous equations to determine the concentrations [8,10]. In chromatography, the complete separation is difficult to achieve, for the eluting peaks are very close to each other [3] and at the same time the kinetic system is perturbed.…”

Effects of treatment with elevated carbon dioxide levels on the sensory quality of asparagus

“…Controlled atmosphere storage of horticultural produce helps maintain quality of horticultural produce by inhibiting respiratory enzyme systems (Siriphanich & Kader 1986), decreasing oxygen uptake (Lee 1981), and retarding colour loss (Wang et al 1971;Isenberg 1979;Wills & Wimalasiri 1979). In asparagus the onset of softening is delayed (Wills & Wimalasiri 1979) and bracts open more slowly so spears are less susceptible to fungal attack (Isenberg 1979) and soft rot infections (Lipton 1957;Lee 1981).…”