Postharvest quality of satsuma mandarin fruit affected by controlled atmosphere

Controlled Atmospheres and cold storage were conducted to establish the long-term storage method of Satsuma Mandarin fruit harvested from a commercial Mandarin orchard in Jeju, S/Korea. Three combinations of carbon dioxide and oxygen were treated with cold storage as control. The CA of 5% CO2 + 3% O-2 showed the lowest reduction of weight loss and the best retention of firmness. CA conditions of 3% CO2 + 1% O-2 and 10.5% CO2 + 3.9% O-2 % presented a higher percentage of weight loss and fruit firmness declined considerably similar to control. Soluble solids contents were slightly increased until 60 days of low temperature storage, and thereafter decreased continually until 120 days while the value in CAs increased continually until 120 days of storage. Organic acid in fruits under different CAs was considerably higher than that in control fruit until 60 days of storage, but there were no differences between treatments after 120 days of storage. The CA of 5% CO2 + 3% O-2 maintained the best quality among the CA treatments in 120 storage days of Satsuma Mandarin fruit.