Membrane Fatty Acids and Physiological Disorders in Cold-Stored ‘Golden Delicious’ Apples Treated with 1-MCP and Calcium Chloride

Abstract

The present research intents to study skin fatty acids and physiological disorders developed during cold storage in ‘Golden Delicious’ apples treated with 1-MCP and calcium. Harvested fruits were treated with calcium chloride (Ca), 1-MCP (MCP), Ca + MCP or no treatment (control) and then subjected to cold storage at 0.5 °C for 6 months. Fatty acids’ composition, malondialdehyde (MDA) and the physiological disorders bitter pit (BP), superficial scald and diffuse skin browning (DSB) were measured at harvest and after storage plus 7 days of shelf-life at room temperature ≈22 °C. Palmitic acid decreased and linoleic acid increased over time, while oleic and stearic acids had few changes. Generally, unsaturated/saturated fatty acids and MDA increased over the storage period. Treatment with Ca showed that, at the end of the experiment, the lowest MDA values and the highest unsaturated/saturated fatty acids ratio were mainly due to higher linoleic and lower palmitic acids concentrations, which are coincident with less severe BP. There was no clear correlation between the measured fatty acids (palmitic, linoleic, oleic and stearic), unsaturated-to-saturated fatty acids ratio or MDA with chilling skin physiological disorders. Further research is needed to clarify the changes in membrane properties and the effect of some treatments in response to chilling injury during storage.

Temperature Changes Affected Spring Phenology and Fruit Quality of Apples Grown in High-Latitude Region of South Korea

“…However, the issue with 'Fuji', compared to 'Hongro', is that it grows in a high-latitude region such as Chuncheon, where low temperatures are frequently experienced from October. It is well-known that low temperatures can rupture cell membranes [23], resulting in a loss of structural integrity and a delay in ripening as ice crystals form within the fruit tissues. Additionally, the enzymatic processes involved in pigment synthesis might slow down or temporarily halt due to excessively low temperatures, leading to reduced levels of anthocyanins and other pigments responsible for color development.…”

Postharvest Calcium Chloride Treatment Strengthens Cell Wall Structure to Maintain Litchi Fruit Quality

“…For example, CaCl 2 treatment effectively maintains qualities as the firmness, color, sugar and acid contents of tomato [ 12 ], date [ 13 ], and apple [ 14 ], and enhances the antioxidation of grape [ 15 ], jujube [ 16 , 17 ], pear [ 18 ], banana [ 19 ], blackberry [ 20 ], and papaya [ 21 ]. CaCl 2 treatment also significantly maintains or strengthens the cell wall structure of grape [ 22 ], apple [ 23 ], red raspberry [ 24 ], papaya [ 25 ], melon [ 26 ], apricot [ 27 ], and sweet cherry [ 28 ], and improves the cold resistance of apple [ 29 ], peach [ 30 ], jujube [ 16 ], loquat [ 31 ], and banana [ 32 ], in addition to reducing the decay of melon [ 26 , 33 ]. However, the application of CaCl 2 treatment in the postharvest preservation of litchi fruit has not been reported.…”

Postharvest Handling of Horticultural Products

“…In the present "Special Issue", four papers report on apple, pear, and peach. For apple, the effects of 1-MCP and CaCl 2 on fatty acid composition and their relationship with storage physiological disorders were studied [8]. A new method to induce superficial scald in stored pear was developed by [9] in order to better study the mechanisms of physiological disorder developments.…”