Increasing pineapple fruit resistance to chilling injury during storage by temperature preconditioning

The potential for extending storage life of fresh fruit by increasing the degree of fruit resistance to chilling injury was explored in pineapple cv. N36. Temperature preconditioning was applied by holding fruit for 24h at 15 and/or 10 degrees C before storage at 5 degrees C. Fruit were removed weekly from the cold room and held further for up to 6 d at ambient temperature (25 degrees C). Observations were carried out on both occasions. Development of chilling injury was observed in fruit on removal and during the subsequent days at ambient temperature. Step-wise temperature reduction at 15 and 10 degrees C for 24h at each temperature allowed the fruit to be stored at 5 degrees C for up to 6 weeks with less symptoms of chilling injury compared to the control. The study provides an opportunity to extend the storage life of pineapple further beyond the period achievable under the normal optimum temperature.