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Assessment of calcium content in pear fruits under storage after CaCl2 applications during pre and post-harvest phases
* 1, 2 , 3, 4 , 3, 4 , 3, 4 , 3, 4 , 4, 5 , 4, 6 , 4, 6 , 4, 6 , 4, 7 , 3, 4 , 3, 4 , 3, 4 , 3, 4 , 3, 4
1  Departamento de Ciências da Terra, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Campus da Caparica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
2  Centro de Investigação de Geobiociências, Geoengenharias e Geotecnologias (GeoBioTec), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Campus da Caparica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
3  Earth Sciences Department, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
4  GeoBioTec Research Center, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
5  PlantStress & Biodiversity Lab, Centro de Estudos Florestais (CEF), Instituto Superior Agronomia (ISA), Universidade de Lisboa (ULisboa), Quinta do Marquês, Avenida da República, 2784-505 Oeiras, and Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisboa, Portugal.
6  Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P. (INIAV), Quinta do Marquês, Avenida da República, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal.
7  ESEAG-COFAC, Avenida do Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal.
Academic Editor: Carmit Ziv

Abstract:

Post-harvest systems are crucial for fruit conservation since it minimizes the waste of such perishable food and allows its marketability to consumers during the year. This study thus aims to assess calcium values in stored fruits, previously sprayed and/or immersed in CaCl2, and possible implications on quality. Fruits previously sprayed with different concentrations of calcium chloride (0 – 8 kg.ha-1 CaCl2) during the productive cycle (pre-harvest phase) were separated into two groups at harvest. One was immediately stored in conservation chambers, while the second group was immersed in 1.3% CaCl2 (for 10 minutes at room temperature) in the post-harvest stage. After 4 months of storage, calcium content was evaluated with X-Ray fluorescence analysis and quality parameters, such as total soluble solids, malic acid, hardness, and colorimetric parameters of pulp were also monitored. Overall, calcium content in stored fruits with post-harvest bath were superior, but fruits with the exclusive application of CaCl2 during the pre-harvest phase were superior to the respective control. Furthermore, treatment T2 (corresponding to the highest concentration of CaCl2 during pre-harvest, up to 8 kg.ha-1) presented the lowest total soluble solids values. The highest value of malic acid prevailed in fruits with no application of CaCl2 while it also presented the lowest value of hardness. No significant differences were observed for colorimetric parameters of pulps. In conclusion, the pre-harvest workflow used for this study increased calcium content in fruits at harvest, but post-harvest immersion can be used in complementation to pre-harvest treatments to avoid fruit quality decay. Calcium applications did not compromise its marketability to consumers.

Keywords: calcium; pear storage; pre-harvest and post-harvest calcium treatments; quality parameters
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