Role of physical and chemical performance during storage of apple cultivar

Abstract

The fruit of apple (Malus domestica) cultivars Golden Delicious Red, Delicious, Red Gala and Honeycrisp were harvested at optimum maturity and stored at 5±2°C with 70-80 percent relative humidity. Physiochemical changes were determined in fruit at 30 days interval during storage and significant differences were observed among apple cultivars. Storage resulted in significant increased in weight loss, bitter pit incidence and soft rot, while juice content, starch score, titratable acidity, total soluble solids, total sugar, pH, TSS: Acid ratio ascorbic acid, firmness and density of fruit decreased with increasing storage duration. Harvesting at mid mature stage and calcium chloride (9%) treatment for 9 minutes resulted in enhanced storage performance.