Understanding the physiological response of fresh-cut cauliflower for developing a suitable packaging system

Wilting and decay are the general postharvest problems of fresh-cut cauliflower during marketing. The objectives of this study were; (i) to investigate the product physiological responses on transpiration and respiration rates (TR and RR) under different storage temperatures (1, 5, 10 and 15 degrees C) and relatively humidity (RH) (60, 76, 86 and 96%), in order to design packages; and, (ii) to evaluate the impact of packaging design (using PeakFresh (PF), poly-propylene (PP), and NatureFlex (NF)) on the quality of fresh-cut cauliflower at 5 degrees C for 12 days. Based on the physiological responses, two packages were designed; package-1 (20NF; 20% NF+80% PP) and package-2 (40NF; 40% NF+ 60% PP), while PF (100% PF) and PP (100% PP) served as control. Mathematical model adequately predicted respiration rates as a function of storage time and fitted to the experimental data (R-2 = 0.98). The RR of fresh-cut cauliflower was significantly higher than that of the uncut cauliflower and was within the range of 120 and 77.5 mg/kg. h at 5 degrees C for fresh-cut and uncut cauliflower, respectively. Transpiration rate for fresh-cut cauliflower was lowest at 96% RH across all storage temperatures (p <= 0.05). Optimal package was achieved as a function of fresh-cut cauliflower physiological responses. At the end of storage day 12 at 5 degrees C, optimized 20NF package had the best performance compared to other packages; gas composition was within the range of 5% O-2 and 10% CO2, with 0% in-package water vapour condensation but at expense of 7% weight loss.