Influence of ripening stage at harvest on chilling injury symptoms of persimmon cv. Rojo Brillante stored at different temperatures

Changes in the quality during storage of persimmon fruits cv. Rojo Brillante harvested at two different maturity stages were studied. Early and late harvested fruit were stored at 1 degrees C or 15 degrees C for different periods of time. Harvest time had a relevant influence on chilling injury (CI) sensitiveness, since CI symptoms were found in fruits stored at 1 degrees C only when they were early harvested. The most important CI manifestation was a drastic decrease of firmness that occurred when fruit were transferred from cold storage to 20 degrees C. Other observed CI symptoms were internal browning, darkness of the skin, flesh structural changes, and increase of ethylene and CO2 production. Harvest date had also a considerable effect on the storage at 15 degrees C, in this way, late harvested fruits maintained good quality for more time than early harvested ones.