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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Food Quality Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #345722
Research Project: Enhancing Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Quality with Improved Phenolics Contents

Location: Food Quality Laboratory

Title: Effect of genotype and plastic film type on strawberry fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life

Author
item DONG, WEN - University Of Tennessee
item LU, YINGJIAN - University Of Maryland
item Yang, Tianbao
item Trouth, Frances
item Lewers, Kimberly
item Daughtry, Craig
item CHENG, ZONG-MING - University Of Tennessee

Submitted to: International Journal of Fruit Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/25/2019
Publication Date: 10/7/2019
Citation: Dong, W., Lu, Y., Yang, T., Trouth, F.J., Lewers, K.S., Daughtry, C.S., Cheng, Z. 2019. Effect of genotype and plastic film type on strawberry fruit quality and post-harvest shelf life. International Journal of Fruit Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/15538362.2019.1673873.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15538362.2019.1673873

Interpretive Summary: There is an increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables enriched in antioxidants or vitamins. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different strawberry cultivars and plastic films on postharvest fruit quality. Six strawberry cultivars, Albion, Monterey, Portola, San Andrea, Seascape and Sweet Ann were grown under low tunnels covered with three different plastic films that varied in light transmittance characteristics: Standard Clear (STD), TIII TES/TR (TES) and Temp cool (TEM). Compared to STD, TES blocked 5% UV transmittance only while TEM blocked 40% UV transmittance and 15% visible/infrared light. Plastic films used to cover plants during fruit production influenced fruit color, shelf-life and total soluble solids after harvest when fruits were in cold storage. For instance, Monterey, Portola and Sweet Ann showed longer shelf-life under TEM in comparison to STD film, while other cultivars had greater shelf-life when grown under TES. Thus the films influence on fruit quality depended on the cultivar. These results demonstrate that growers must consider both cultivar and film type to ensure best strawberry fruit quality. This research will benefit the strawberry growers and consumers.

Technical Abstract: There is an increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables enriched in antioxidants or vitamins. The quality of strawberry fruits is highly affected by the genotype and environmental conditions. In this study, six day-neutral strawberry cultivars, Albion, Monterey, Portola, San Andrea, Seascape and Sweet Ann were grown under low tunnels covered with three UV selective films: Standard Clear (STD), TIII TES/TR (TES) and Temp cool (TEM). TES blocked 5% UV transmittance only while TEM blocked 40% UV transmittance and 15% visible/infrared light. The genotype was the major factor affecting fruit quality, shelf life and their metabolite compositions. There was significant correlation between color and total anthocyanin content, total phenolic content, and total soluble solid. In terms of films, changes of films had influences in fruit color, shelf life and total soluble solids during the cold storage. For instance, Monterey, Portola and Sweet Ann showed longer shelf life under TEM while the other three last longer under TES. Thus the films' impact highly depended on the genotype, suggesting that the effect of UV in fruit quality is affected by cultivar selection. These results suggest that film selection requires consideration of genotype differences in order to achieve the best postharvest quality.