The effect of postharvest calcium application on tissue calcium concentration, quality attributes, incidence of flesh browning and cell wall physicochemical aspects of peach fruits
Introduction
After harvest rapid ripening in peach fruits is responsible for short shelf life and represents a serious constraint for efficient handling and transportation. Ripening can be retarded by cold storage. However, cold storage life of peaches is frequently limited by chilling injury (CI) and loss of quality (Brummell et al., 2004, Valero et al., 1997). Peach fruits after extended cold storage present symptoms of internal breakdown (IB), expressed as flesh browning (FB) and similar symptoms in other fruits have been attributed to low calcium content (Hewajulige et al., 2003, Thorp et al., 2003).
Preharvest calcium sprays may increase slightly peach fruit calcium content (Crisosto, Day, Johnson, & Garner, 2000) and this increase may differ from year to year, highly regulated by environmental factors (Biggs, A.R., personal communication). Addition of calcium fertilizer to soil is of questionable value (Lester & Grusak, 1999). Conversely, infiltration methods under pressure or vacuum provide a rapid and effective method for increasing calcium content (Lara et al., 2004, Saftner et al., 1998). However, these treatments often cause surface damage (Saftner, Conway, & Sams, 1999).
Postharvest calcium dips can increase calcium content considerably compared to preharvest sprays, without causing fruit injury, depending on salt type and calcium concentration. Postharvest calcium application maintains cell turgor, membrane integrity, tissue firmness and delays membrane lipid catabolism, extending storage life of fresh fruits (Garcia et al., 1996, Picchioni et al., 1998).
Many studies have examined the effects of calcium on fruit firmness and decay after harvest, but few have focused on compositional changes in cell walls of fruits throughout storage (Chardonnet et al., 2003, Saftner et al., 1998). To the best of our knowledge, few data exists regarding the effect of postharvest calcium dips in cell wall physicochemical attributes of peach fruits and it has been mainly focused on qualitative characteristics (Wills & Mahendra, 1989) or fungal resistance (Conway, Sams, & Kelman, 1994).
As well as from calcium chloride, which has been extensively used in fresh fruits (Chardonnet et al., 2003, Saftner et al., 1998), calcium propionate and calcium lactate are proposed as alternative calcium sources (Buta et al., 1995, Saftner et al., 2003). The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of postharvest fruit immersion in different calcium sources and the effect of calcium concentrations on peach fruit tissue and cell wall composition during cold storage.
Section snippets
Plant material
Peach (Prunus persica, cv. ‘Andross’) fruits were harvested at firm-ripe stage from a commercial orchard (Naoussa, Northern Greece) in early morning (fruit internal temperature 23 ± 1 °C). After selection for uniformity of size and freedom from defects, they were divided into 6 lots of 30 fruits for each water and calcium treatment supplemented with wetting agent (0.03% Agral®600). All treatments included immersion for 5 min in deionized water (water temperature = 20 °C) (control) and three calcium
Calcium
Significant increase of calcium content both in the peel and the flesh of calcium-treated peach fruits were recorded. Peel calcium increased by 2.3 to 2.7-fold and flesh calcium increased by 50% to 74% in calcium-treated peach fruits, compared to control fruits, 1 day after immersion (Table 1). Calcium source did not seem to affect calcium absorption. Calcium content was significantly higher in the high concentrations of all calcium sources applied, although it was not proportional to the
Conclusions
Clingstone non-melting peach fruits destined for canning are often stored for several days in cold rooms so that they can be processed gradually, according to the capacities of canning industries. Calcium chloride immersion at 62.5 mM Ca could be suggested as a potential postharvest handling of non-melting peach fruits destined for processing after prolonged cold storage, since it provides fruits with better qualitative characteristics (increased tissue firmness, less susceptibility to
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