Preliminary Evaluation of Modified-Atmosphere Storage for Pumpkins

Abstract

Pumpkins are difficult to produce for fall markets in the southeastern United States. Diseases, particularly aphid (Myzus persicae and Aphis spp.)-transmitted virus diseases, make fall pumpkin production difficult. Controlled-atmosphere (CA) storage may offer a method of overcoming this problem by using spring-or summer-produced pumpkins held in CA storage for fall sales. The objective of this study was to evaluate CA storage of pumpkins from spring and summer production. Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo L.) were stored under ambient conditions (≈ 70-90 • F, ≈ 40%-60% relative humidity [RH]) and CA conditions (3% O 2 , 5% CO 2 , 50 • F, and 60% RH) to compare postharvest storage and shelf life. Pumpkins stored under CA conditions had significantly less damage than pumpkins stored under ambient conditions. There were significantly more marketable fruit after CA storage. Cultivar did not affect results. Although there were differences between storage methods, CA-stored pumpkins still had significant loss due to fungal pathogen activity. In 2007, 14% of pumpkins from CA storage were unmarketable fruit, with an additional 55% showing some damage. In 2008, 40% of pumpkins stored under CA conditions were unmarketable. Additional steps including surface sanitization would likely be required prior to widespread adoption of this technology.

New host-pathogen associations of horticultural crops in the south-east of Spain

“…Con ambas técnicas se han obtenido muy buenos resultados en el almacenamiento y conservación del brócoli (Fernández-León et al, 2013;Paulsen et al, 2018), el melón (Portela y Cantwell, 1998;Verás et al, 2019) y la calabaza (Boyhan et al, 2012;Stefanov et al, 2012).…”