Fast curing: A method to improve postharvest quality of onions in hot climate harvest

Most of the onions (Allium cepa cv. Orlando) grown in southern Israel are treated with maleic hydrazide before storage, and are cold-stored for up to 8 months with minimal losses to rots or sprouting. Nevertheless, in most cases the complete dry outer skin (tunic) cracks and loosens, and tends to fall off during storage. To improve onion postharvest quality, bulbs were harvested at 80-100% green leaf drop (top-down), leaving about 10 cm of neck above the bulb. The early harvest reduced skin cracks in 93% of the bulbs, resulting in a sturdy tunic beneath the muddy outer skin. We applied fast curing (FC) at 30 degrees C and 98% RH for up to 9 days postharvest: the onion neck became 52% narrower after 6 days, similar to the effect of 5 months of cold storage. FC also changed the color of the treated onion bulbs' outer skin to a darker reddish brown. FC of onions harvested with a long neck and stored for 290 days reduced weight loss and rot by 30% and 80%, respectively, as compared to non-FC onions. The better onion quality induced by FC was accompanied by an increased number of onion skin layers (from an average of 1.8 to 4) and a higher force needed to tear the tunic (average 4.8 N as compared to 3.5 N in the control). FC compressed the effects of 5 months of cold storage into a few days, since most of the bulb neck and tunic changes measured during FC occurred only after long cold storage without FC. Although emission of the lachrymatory factor was not affected by FC, it markedly increased after 5 months of storage. Histological observation showed that FC keeps the onion tunic and inner fleshy scales intact and ensures postharvest quality, even after 8 months of cold storage. The high temperature used for FC can be reached in hot-climate storage areas with minimal energy investment. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.