Quality Changes in Apple in Evaporative Cooling Store

Abstract

The temperature and moisture content throughout the storage time changes according to the type and variety of fruit. So the ambient temperature and relative humidity in the store must be same anywhere. Different temperatures and humidity in different levels in the stores cause quality losses in the products. For this purpose, to investigate quality losses in 'Granny Smith' apple varieties in store has set a storage temperature of 2 degrees C and a relative humidity of 90% with evaporative cooling system. Quality analysis was made from 3 different levels. The levels for statistical evaluations were called as top, middle and bottom. Analysis of variance was performed as the statistical analysis. The analyses were repeated monthly. In the statistical analysis, the mean weight loss was 0.78%, the lowest fruit firmness was 5.9kg, the lowest TSS value was 14.1% in the bottom level, and the lowest acid value was 0.67% in the top level. It was determined the highest pH value with 3.41 in the bottom level at the end of storage while the pH of the fruit at harvest was 3.25. At the end of the storage period at the highest respiratory rate in the top level 39.1mg CO2/kg*h were determined.