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- Effect of Controlled Atmospheres and Environmental Conditions on the Physicochemical and Sensory Characteristics of Sweet Cherry Cultivar SatinPublication . Andrade, Luís Pinto de; Veloso, Abel; Espirito Santo, Christophe; Gaspar, Pedro Dinis; Silva, Pedro Dinho da; Resende, Mafalda; Beato, Helena; Baptista, Cátia; Pintado, Cristina; Paulo, Luísa; Simões, Maria PaulaSweet cherry is a highly appreciated seasonal fruit with a high content of bioactive compounds; however, this highly perishable fruit has a relatively short shelf-life period. Here, we evaluated the evolution of the physicochemical and sensory qualities of sweet cherries (Prunus avium (L.) cv. Satin) under different storage conditions, namely at a Farmers’ Organization (FO) and in a Research Centre (RC) under normal and four different conditions of controlled atmosphere for 49 days. Additional parameters were monitored, such as rotten fruit incidence and stem appearance. Temperature was the factor that most influenced the fruit quality changes over the study time. In fact, fruits stored at higher mean temperatures showed higher weight loss, higher variation in CIE-Lab colour parameters, higher firmness loss, and browner and more dehydrated stems and were less appealing to the consumer. Controlled atmosphere conditions showed a smaller decrease in CIE-Lab colour parameters and lower weight loss. The incidence of rotting was very low and was always equal or lower than 2% for all conditions. Thus, RC chamber conditions were able to sustain fruit quality parameters over 28 days under normal atmosphere conditions and 49 days under controlled atmosphere conditions.
- Influence of storage conditions on fruit quality of ‘Royal Time’ and ‘Royal Summer’ peach cultivarsPublication . Veloso, Abel; Ferreira, Dora; Gaspar, Pedro Dinis; Andrade, Luís Pinto de; Espirito Santo, Christophe; Silva, Pedro D.; Simões, Maria PaulaPeach is a very perishable climacteric fruit whose firmness may decay rapidly depending on the temperature. Refrigeration is usually used to delay ripening and maintain fruit quality. However, often temperature storage conditions are not optimized. This work aims to characterize the storage conditions (temperature and humidity) of three peach producers of Beira Interior region, Portugal. Additionally, correlate those conditions with peach quality evolution comparing two peach cultivars – Royal Summer and Royal Time – with similar harvest dates but very different acidity content. The three refrigeration chambers monitored have very distinct conditions of average air temperature, namely 8.29±3.53 °C (local C), 5.50±0.88 °C (local G) and 0.80±0.83 °C (local L) but similar high humidity, in an average range of 90%-98%. At harvest time, major differences were in fruit firmness and acidity. ‘Royal Summer’ firmness was 6.61 kgf and ‘Royal Time’ was 5.20 kgf. For all storage conditions, fruit firmness decrease faster for ‘Royal Time’ cultivar than for ‘Royal Summer’. The results suggest that in general farmers use inadequate range temperature for long storage period. For short periods of 7 days, conditions like those of local G allow fruit quality maintenance like firmness and loss of weight without problems of chilling injury, and, simultaneously, save energy that is also not only a desirable international goal but also contributes to decrease of production costs.