Impact of Harvesting Time and Length of Cold Storage Period On Physiological and Quality Traits of Four Quince Genotypes (Cydonia Oblonga Mill.)

Abstract

The investigation was conducted to determine the best harvesting time and the storage period of some quince cultivars and promising genotypes from the collection of quince germplasm in the Horticultural Research Station of Isfahan, Iran. For this study, fruits of 'Vidoja' and 'Isfahan' cultivars as well as promising genotypes PH2 and NB4 were harvested on 6, 14 and 21 October 2015 and 2016 and then stored at 0 ± 1 °C with 90 ± 5% R.H. for five months. Weight loss, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titrable acids (TA), taste index, pectin, total phenols, and percent of decay and surface browning of fruits were measured immediately after harvest and one-month intervals after storage in a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replications and 10 fruits per each replication. The results showed that 'Isfahan' cultivar had the highest TSS (18.83%), total phenols and weight loss. The least weight loss was observed in the 'Vidoja' cultivar. NB4 genotype showed the least taste index and pectin, while the most pectin and firmness was related to PH2 genotype. Generally, the delay in harvesting and prolongation of storage led to increasing of TSS and weight loss and declining of firmness and phenols, TA, and pectins. Until the third month of storage, there was no surface browning. Browning symptoms were observed from the fourth month of storage and increased in the fifth month up to 1.72%. Generally, the best harvesting time for 'Vidoja' was 185 days and for the rest of the genotypes, it was 193 days after full bloom. Fruit storage for four months in cold is advisable for these cultivars and genotypes.

Influence of Hot Water and 1-Methylcyclopropane Treatments on Air-Stored Quince Fruit

“…Peel hue values of fruit regularly decreased, and L* values increased during the storage period in both years (p ≤ 0.05) (Table 1, Figure 2a). Similar changes were rep in other studies conducted on quince fruit [13,17,18,[34][35][36] The higher hue values reflect color that is more greenish. Evidently, 1000 ppb 1-MCP treatment has effectively delayed chlorophyll degradation.…”

“…Peel hue values of fruit regularly decreased, and L* values increased during the entire storage period in both years (p ≤ 0.05) (Table 1, Figure 2a). Similar changes were reported in other studies conducted on quince fruit [13,17,18,[34][35][36]. The postharvest treatments significantly affected peel hue values, which changed between 92.20 • (controls) and 98.08 • (1-MCP-2) only in the first year.…”

“…Flesh firmness and titratable acidity of quince fruit gradually decreased (p ≤ 0.05), while soluble solids content exhibited unstable changes in all treatments over the time in the storage period in both years (Table 1, Figure 5a,c,e), as in other reports [17,18,36,40].…”

“…Flesh firmness and titratable acidity of quince fruit gradually decreased (p ≤ 0.05), while soluble solids content exhibited unstable changes in all treatments over the time in the storage period in both years (Table 1, Figure 5a,c,e), as in other reports [17,18,36,40]. Soluble solids content levels in quince fruit exhibited unstable changes during storage in both years (p ≤ 0.05) (Table 1, Figure 5c).…”