Author(s):
Antunes, Maria Dulce 
; Miguel, Maria Graça ; Neves, M. A. ; Cavaco, A. M.
Date: 2010
Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/2894
Origin: Sapientia - Universidade do Algarve
Subject(s): Prunus armeniaca; Quality; Storage
Description
Proceedings of the International Conference “Environmentally friendly and safe
technologies for quality of fruit and vegetables”, held in Universidade do Algarve, Faro,
Portugal, on January 14-16, 2009. This Conference was a join activity with COST Action 924. Calcium salts have been successfully used to maintain firmness and to slow down ripening processes
in some fruit. This work studies the effect of postharvest calcium chloride applications on the quality
preservation of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) cv. ‘Beliana’ and cv. ‘Lindo’ during storage. Harvested apricots
were dipped in 0, 1, 3 or 5% CaCl2 solutions for 2 min. Fruit were left to dry for 1 h at ambient temperatures
and then stored at 3 ºC. Fruit were analysed after 0, 6, 14, 21 and 28 d storage for weight loss, firmness
and soluble solids content (SSC). A taste panel was performed at the beginning and at the end of the
experiment. Weight loss increased through storage in both cultivars. ‘Lindo’ did not show differences
among treatments in weight loss, but ‘Beliana’ had higher weight loss in fruit treated with 3% CaCl2
followed by 5%. Firmness decreased through storage without differences among treatments in ‘Beliana’,
except after 5 d where all treatments where firmer than control. The ‘Lindo’ apricots treated with 3 and 5%
CaCl2 showed higher firmness values than the other treatments through storage, except at 28 d where only
the 5% CaCl2 had significantly higher firmness. ‘Beliana’ did not show differences in SSC among treatments.
However, ‘Lindo’ had lower SSC when treated with 1% CaCl2. When tested after 27 d storage, panellists
preferred fruit from the 1% CaCl2 treatment followed by the control for both cultivars. It seems that CaCl2
treatments with concentrations over 3% are prejudicial for apricots. Concentrations between 1 and 3%
should be assayed, since 1 and 3% look to be beneficial for the different quality parameters.
