Curing apples to control blue mold rot
Rosa Maria Valdebenito-Sanhueza: PROTERRA Research Center
<div>One of the major postharvest problems of apples, in Brazil, is decay caused by fungi including blue mold rot incited by <em>Penicillium expansum </em>that infect fruits through wounds. Careful handling<em>, </em>correct cool chain management adequate cold storage facilities are important to reduce fruit losses. Curing can be achieved by holding fruits at temperatures and humidity conducive to wound healing and detrimental to pathogen attack. In general, the combination of temperature and humidity crop specific. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate wound healing on Fuji apples fruits exposed at different temperatures (10°C to 17°C) and relative humidity (95 and 100%) during different periods. The amount of decay by blue mold during subsequent storage at 17°C was also examined. Independent of duration period and temperature the water saturated regime provided better control than 95 % relative humidity. At the water saturated regime the best control was achieved by exposing the apple fruits for 15 hours at temperatures of 15 and 17 °C. At the regime of 15°C and 100% RH, the highest induction of curing and reduced apple infection by <em>Penicillium expansum</em> in wounded Fuji apples was obtained by exposing the fruits for 18 and 24 hours controlling 84.1 and 95.2%, respectively. The cured wounded apple tissues maintained at 15 C/100% RH for 18 hours increased tanin reaction when treated with ferric chloride.</div>
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