Low temperature conditioning reduces postharvest chilling injury in loquat fruit

Chilling injury occurs in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl. cv. Luoyangqing) fruit when they are stored at temperatures lower than 5 degrees C. In attempts to reduce this chilling injury, the effect of low temperature conditioning (LTC) was examined. Loquat fruit were conditioned at 5 degrees C for 6 days before 0 degrees C storage for up to 54 days. Control fruit stored at 0 degrees C exhibited severe symptoms of lignification and tissue browning, and a decrease in percentage juice. LTC treatment significantly reduced these chilling injury symptoms, and doubled storage life. In terms of acceptability (tissue browning, internal browning (IB) index < 0.4; fruit decay, < 10%; flesh firmness, < 6.0 N; percentage juice, > 60%), fruit could only be stored for 40 days at 0 degrees C with a 3 days shelf life at 20 degrees C, while LTC fruit could be stored for 60 days at 0 degrees C with a similar shelf life. Similarly, LTC fruit could be stored for 40 days with a 5 days shelf life at 20 degrees C, while fruit could be only stored for 20 days at 0 degrees C with a 5 days shelf life. Our results confirm that LTC can effectively alleviate postharvest chilling injury of loquat fruit and may provide longer storage life with acceptable external and internal quality. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.