Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate

Pomegranate is a cold-sensitive fruit, prone to develop chilling injury (CI) which manifests as external pitting and internal browning. In the case of ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranates, storage at 5 °C and >90% relative humidity (RH) is recommended to minimize CI, weight loss, and fungal diseases. Howe...

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Main Authors: Pérez-Gago, María B., Palou, Lluís, Taberner, Verónica, Morales, Julia, Quiñones, Ana, Lluch, José Enrique, Navarro-Cánovas, María José, Bartual, Julián
Format: Objeto de conferencia
Language:Inglés
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/9090
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author Pérez-Gago, María B.
Palou, Lluís
Taberner, Verónica
Morales, Julia
Quiñones, Ana
Lluch, José Enrique
Navarro-Cánovas, María José
Bartual, Julián
author_browse Bartual, Julián
Lluch, José Enrique
Morales, Julia
Navarro-Cánovas, María José
Palou, Lluís
Pérez-Gago, María B.
Quiñones, Ana
Taberner, Verónica
author_facet Pérez-Gago, María B.
Palou, Lluís
Taberner, Verónica
Morales, Julia
Quiñones, Ana
Lluch, José Enrique
Navarro-Cánovas, María José
Bartual, Julián
author_sort Pérez-Gago, María B.
collection ReDivia
description Pomegranate is a cold-sensitive fruit, prone to develop chilling injury (CI) which manifests as external pitting and internal browning. In the case of ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranates, storage at 5 °C and >90% relative humidity (RH) is recommended to minimize CI, weight loss, and fungal diseases. However, in recent seasons, increased internal skin browning has been observed, in the absence of typical external CI symptoms. Furthermore, this disorder becomes apparent after a few weeks of storage under optimal conditions. The objective of this work was to study the effects of environmental conditions at harvest (early in the morning (E) with mild temperatures and late in the morning (L) with maximum solar radiation) and harvest date (at the beginning (H1) and the end (H2) of the growing season 2022) on the physicochemical quality and internal tissue browning of ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranates stored for 8 and 12 weeks at 6 ºC and 90-95% RH, followed by 7 days at 20 ºC and 85% RH. Differences in solar radiation, ambient temperature and RH at harvest time resulted in fruit temperatures of 15.7±1.8 and 28.1±0.4 ºC for E and L, respectively. No significant differences in internal browning were observed between E and L harvest time, whereas H2 fruit were less susceptible than H1 fruit. Furthermore, fruit with higher internal browning incidence showed higher respiration, weight loss, and electrolyte leakage, indicating damage of the cell membrane. Fruit firmness was greater in H1 than H2 at harvest and after 8 weeks of cold storage plus shelf life, but no differences were observed between treatments at the end of storage. Overall, late-harvest fruit was less susceptible to internal browning. Future work should explore the origin of this physiological disorder and feasible postharvest management to minimize it.
format Objeto de conferencia
id ReDivia9090
institution Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Agrarias (IVIA)
language Inglés
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
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spelling ReDivia90902025-10-08T17:53:00Z Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate Pérez-Gago, María B. Palou, Lluís Taberner, Verónica Morales, Julia Quiñones, Ana Lluch, José Enrique Navarro-Cánovas, María José Bartual, Julián Overall fruit quality Fruit respiration Electrolyte leakage Q01 Food science and technology Punica granatum Pomegranate is a cold-sensitive fruit, prone to develop chilling injury (CI) which manifests as external pitting and internal browning. In the case of ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranates, storage at 5 °C and >90% relative humidity (RH) is recommended to minimize CI, weight loss, and fungal diseases. However, in recent seasons, increased internal skin browning has been observed, in the absence of typical external CI symptoms. Furthermore, this disorder becomes apparent after a few weeks of storage under optimal conditions. The objective of this work was to study the effects of environmental conditions at harvest (early in the morning (E) with mild temperatures and late in the morning (L) with maximum solar radiation) and harvest date (at the beginning (H1) and the end (H2) of the growing season 2022) on the physicochemical quality and internal tissue browning of ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranates stored for 8 and 12 weeks at 6 ºC and 90-95% RH, followed by 7 days at 20 ºC and 85% RH. Differences in solar radiation, ambient temperature and RH at harvest time resulted in fruit temperatures of 15.7±1.8 and 28.1±0.4 ºC for E and L, respectively. No significant differences in internal browning were observed between E and L harvest time, whereas H2 fruit were less susceptible than H1 fruit. Furthermore, fruit with higher internal browning incidence showed higher respiration, weight loss, and electrolyte leakage, indicating damage of the cell membrane. Fruit firmness was greater in H1 than H2 at harvest and after 8 weeks of cold storage plus shelf life, but no differences were observed between treatments at the end of storage. Overall, late-harvest fruit was less susceptible to internal browning. Future work should explore the origin of this physiological disorder and feasible postharvest management to minimize it. 2025-10-08T17:52:59Z 2025-10-08T17:52:59Z 2025 conferenceObject Pérez-Gago, M.B., Palou, L., Taberner, V., Morales, J. Quiñones, A., Lluch, J.E., Navarro-Cánovas, M.J., Bartual, J. 2025. Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate. Libro de Resúmenes VI International Symposium on Pomegranate and Minor Mediterranean Fruits, Bari, Italia, p. 27. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/9090 en 2025-09-22 VI International Symposium on Pomegranate and Minor Mediterranean Fruits Bari (Italia) openAccess electronico
spellingShingle Overall fruit quality
Fruit respiration
Electrolyte leakage
Q01 Food science and technology
Punica granatum
Pérez-Gago, María B.
Palou, Lluís
Taberner, Verónica
Morales, Julia
Quiñones, Ana
Lluch, José Enrique
Navarro-Cánovas, María José
Bartual, Julián
Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate
title Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate
title_full Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate
title_fullStr Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate
title_full_unstemmed Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate
title_short Effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold-stored ‘Mollar de Elche’ pomegranate
title_sort effects of environmental conditions and ripeness of the fruit at harvest on the physicochemical quality and internal skin browning of cold stored mollar de elche pomegranate
topic Overall fruit quality
Fruit respiration
Electrolyte leakage
Q01 Food science and technology
Punica granatum
url https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11939/9090
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