Reducing chilling injury and decay in stored 'Clementine' Mandarins with hot water and curing treatments

The effectiveness of postharvest hot water (at 53 degrees C for 3 and 6 min; at 48 degrees C for 12 min) and curing treatments (at 53 degrees C for 1 and 6 h; at 48 degrees C for 6 h) on chilling injury, decay and postharvest quality of 'Clementine' mandarins (Citrus reticulata (L.) Osbeck) during a two-month storage at 1 degrees C and subsequently one week of simulated shelf-fife at 20 degrees C, was investigated. The fruits were not de-greened, waxed, or treated with any postharvest fungicides before and after storage. Chilling injury and decay were prevented by all hot water and curing treatments. Curing treatment at 53 degrees C for 6 h dramatically reduced decay compared to other treatment and chilling injury were not developed, but this treatment ranked last after 60 days of storage for overall quality. Weight loss, juice yield, total soluble solids, and total soluble sofids/acid ratio were higher in cured fruit than in hot water dipped fruit. However, titratable acid, ascorbic acid, and overall quality were lower in cured fruit than control and hot water dipped fruit. There were no differences between heat-treated and control fruit in terms of peel colour. Detrimental effects on quality parameters of mandarins did not occur either in hot water or curing treatments. Overall, it was concluded that pre-storage hot water and curing effectively induce tolerance to chilling injury and they constitute an alternative to chemical treatment for 'Clementine' mandarins without impairing any other quality attributes.