Use of hot water treatment to control codling moths in harvested California 'Bing' sweet cherries

Preharvest gibberellic acid-treated California 'Bing' sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) were treated with hot water baths (46-58 degreesC for 0.25-18 min), followed by hydrocooling. The fruit were then stored to simulate either air shipment or sea shipment to overseas markets, both followed by 15 h of shelf life at 20 degreesC. In separate experiments, cherries were also infested with codling moth larvae and subjected to similar hot water bath heating. The quality attributes showed different sensitivity to the combinations of temperature and time used for hot water bath treatment. Pitting was more common in fruit treated at lower temperatures for longer times, while stem browning was more common in fruit treated at high temperatures. Berry browning, stem color, and pitting were the quality attributes most affected by heat treatment. Browning of cherry stem color was a crucial factor in determining whether a combination of temperature and time for hot water bath treatment was successful. All cherries stored at 0degreesC for 14 days to simulate sea shipment were of unacceptable quality after shelf life. Hot water bath treatments that provided 100% codling moth mortality and maintained overall acceptable fruit quality were very limited and included treatments at 50 degreesC for 10 min and at 54 degreesC for 6 min. Delaying the hot water bath treatment after fruit harvest, even if the cherries were kept at 0 degreesC, resulted in a greater loss in fruit quality compared with those treated on the harvest day. Using hot water baths as a quarantine treatment for codling moths (Cydia pomonella) on sweet cherries may be feasible if fruit are air shipped at 5 degreesC for 2 days, but not suitable if fruit are sea shipped at 0degreesC for 14 days. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.