Title: Chilling injury as an indicator of critical temperature for cold storage of guava (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Allahabad Safeda

Authors: Suresh Tiwari, D.K. Tandon, Elda B. Esguerra

Addresses: Department of Horticulture, University of Philippines Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines; N.D. University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. ' Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. ' PHTRC, Department of Horticulture, University of Philippines Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

Abstract: The critical temperature for cold storage of guava cutivar Allahabad Safeda and the changes in physico-chemical attributes during its storage were studied. Fruits were stored at 5, 8 and 15° C with 85–90% relative humidity and withdrawn weekly from cold storage and kept at ambient condition (18–20° C and 65–70% RH) for analysis. Chilling Injury (CI) symptoms, characterised by browning of peel, development of pitting on fruit surface and desiccation of fruit, appeared after 2 weeks in the fruits stored at 5° C. These symptoms became more aggravated when the storage at ambient condition prolonged upto 6 days and when the fruits did not ripen uniformly. The CI symptoms in the fruits stored at 5° C showed membrane damage, i.e. higher electrolyte leakage values and low ethylene levels. However, the fruits stored at 8 and 15° C did not exhibit any symptoms of CI and ripened well until 3 weeks of cold storage.

Keywords: peel browning; chilling injury; guava; ion leakage; pitting; critical temperatures; cold storage; relative humidity; fruits; postharvest; membrane damage; desiccation; fruit ripening.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTI.2006.011659

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 2006 Vol.1 No.2, pp.170 - 177

Published online: 11 Dec 2006 *

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