Interaction between mechanical damage and 1-MCP on the quality of ‘Royal Gala’ apples stored

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of two intensities of impact damage, the application of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP; 625 nL L-1) and the interaction between mechanical damage and the use of 1-MCP on the quality of Royal Gala apples’ stored under refrigeration. The treatments were: control (without damage and without 1-MCP), mechanical damage (10 cm), mechanical damage (30 cm), without damage with application of 1-MCP, application of 1-MCP followed by mechanical damage (10 cm), mechanical damage (10 cm) followed by treatment with 1-MCP, treatment with 1-MCP followed by mechanical damage (30 cm), and mechanical damage (30 cm) followed by treatment with 1-MCP. The fruits were stored for two and four months under refrigeration (0 ± 0.1 ± 2 °C/94% RH) followed by seven days at ambient temperature (20 ± 2 °C/60 ± 5% RH). The mechanical damage caused browning in the pulp. The increasing of the mechanical damage intensity causes a greater effect on the darkening of the pulp. The 1-MCP did not reduce the intensity of browning in fruits subjected to mechanical damage, but contributes to the maintenance of flesh firmness and titratable acidity of apples Royal Gala.