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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #71461
Title: MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE PACKAGING ALLEVIATES CHILLING INJURY IN CUCUMBERS

Author
item Wang, Chien

Submitted to: Postharvest Biology and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/28/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Chilling injury is a problem in most crops of tropical or subtropical origin. About one-third of all fruits and vegetables in U.S. markets are susceptible to chilling injury. Symptoms of chilling injury such as pitting, discoloration, internal breakdown, and decay can result in large postharvest losses during marketing. Cucumbers are very sensitive to chilling injury. We found that packaging of cucumbers in polyethylene bags can reduce pitting and decay caused by chilling temperature storage. This finding is useful to the produce industry and consumers.

Technical Abstract: Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.) packaged in perforated or sealed 1.25 mil (31.75 um) low density polyethylene (LDPE) bags were found to have less severe chilling injury than nonwrapped fruit in storage at 5C. The onset of chilling injury was also delayed by the LDPE packaging compared to the nonpackaged control. The concentrations of CO2 accumulated to 3 percent while O2 levels decreased to 16 percent in the sealed bags. Fruit in the sealed bags had the least decay possibly due to the suppression of fungal growth by the elevated CO2 levels. The O2 and CO2 concentrations inside the perforated bags changed very little from the ambient atmosphere. However, there was a marked difference in the weight loss between nonwrapped cucumbers and fruit from perforated or sealed bags. The weight loss of nonwrapped fruit reached 9 percent in 18 days while perforated and sealed samples lost less than 1 percent during the same period. Chilling stress induced increase in putrescine levels in all treatments but the sealed fruit had the highest levels of putrescine. Sealed fruit and perforated fruit also had higher content of spermidine than nonwrapped fruit. These high levels of polyamines may have contributed to the increase of chilling tolerance in fruit from perforated and sealed packages.