PRECOOLING OF PEACH FRUITS INFLUENCES HISTOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND FRUIT QUALITY ..i>URING STORAGE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Maamoura Botanical Garden Alexandria. Hort. Res. Inst., Agric. Res. . Center, Giza, Egypt

2 Dep. Plant Prod. (Pomology), Institute of Efficient Productivity, Zagazig University.

Abstract

Forced air precooled peach fruits cv. Swilling had significant higher flesh
"firmness and maintained its sse low during storage period compared with room
cooled ones. There was no significant effect of precooling treatments on malic acid
content of the fruits, but generally, the precooled fruits had higher contents of malic
acid during storage period. There was a highly significant effect of precooling
treatments on reducing weight loss percentages of peach fruits especially when the
fruits were washed before precooling, where they had a significant lower loss in both
seasons. Precooled fruits had higher moisture content when compared with room
cooled ones. Forced air precooled fruits after washing has the most turgid cells
compared with the forced air precooled or room cooled ones.