Possibilities of modified atmosphere packaging to prevent the occurrence of internal fruit rot in bell pepper fruit (Capsicum annuum) caused by Fusarium spp

Abstract

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), with its wide array of colors and flavors, plays an important role in many different cuisines around the world. Yet once harvested, it is a highly perishable fruit and needs appropriate postharvest handling. Recently, post-harvest internal rotting (IFR) by Fusarium lactis species complex isolates (FLASC), became an additional challenge to maintain shelf-life and quality of bell pepper fruit. Therefore, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) was explored as a possible technique to postpone symptom development of infected bell peppers. Four artificially infected bell pepper cultivars with different susceptibility towards IFR were stored under MAP conditions for a maximum of 14 d at challenging conditions of 20 • C resembling unrefrigerated shelf life conditions. Each week, 5 fruit of each object were analyzed for IFR symptom development and additional physicochemical and quality parameters. For all cultivars, MAP packaged fruit showed less severe fungal proliferation compared to controls after 14 d. As total titratable acid (TA), total soluble solids (TSS) and vitamin C concentrations in fruit remained rather stable throughout the experiment, fungal development was likely to be postponed directly due to reduced oxygen levels in the pouches rather than a decreased host susceptibility by influencing fruit metabolism. Since no significant differences of disease development were observed between sensitive and less sensitive cultivars for both colors, sensitivity for IFR seems not likely to be caused by different post-harvest disease development patterns but rather by differences in the initial susceptibility for flower infection under normal growth conditions. Based on our results, MAP can indeed be considered a useful tool to ameliorate IFR development during post-harvest storage of bell pepper under conventional temperatures of 7− 16 • C.

Effects of Edible Coating and Modified Atmosphere Technology on the Physiology and Quality of Mangoes after Low-Temperature Transportation at 13 °C in Vibration Mitigation Packaging

“…In contrast, the mass loss of the MAP-treated mangoes was significantly reduced throughout the whole storage, which is consistent with the results of the earlier studies [40]. That the MAP and low-temperature compound treatments could inhibit metabolic activities more effectively, and reduce the dissipation of moisture and nutrients, were the main reasons [41].…”

Shading effects on the yield, quality, and sucrose-metabolizing enzyme activity of sweet corn during filling stage

“…As have been reported by Jia et al (2010), the dry weights of photosynthetic products during filling stage contribute 78 to 84% of the grain yield. At the early filling stage, weak light stress appreciably reduces the grains per ear and the thousand-kernel weight, and at the middle and late stage, it mainly affects the degree of grain filling (Frans et al, 2021). Setter and Flannigan (1989) have claimed that shading slows down the development process of corn with significant differences in genotypes.…”

“…Weak light also inhibited the starch synthase activity, which hindered starch synthesis and reduced starch content (Mengel and Judel, 1982;Hawker and Jenner, 1993;Morell et al, 1995). In contrast to intensive studies of shading effects on common corn, those on sweet corn were still rare (Feng et al, 2007), especially on the issue of sugar accumulation and sucrose-metabolizing enzyme activity (Frans et al, 2021).…”

A convolutional neural network‐based comparative study for pepper seed classification: Analysis of selected deep features with support vector machine

“…The bell pepper contains dietary fibers, minerals, vitamins including vitamin C (Frans, Aerts, Ceusters, Luca, & Ceusters, 2021).…”

“…Bell pepper may be eaten in raw or processed forms as frozen peppers, pickled peppers, paprika (dehydrated products) (Castro et al, 2008). The bell pepper contains dietary fibers, minerals, vitamins including vitamin C (Frans, Aerts, Ceusters, Luca, & Ceusters, 2021).…”