Dynamic controlled atmosphere: Effects on the chemical composition of cuticular wax of ‘Cripps Pink’ apples after long-term storage
Graphical abstract
Introduction
‘Cripps Pink’ (Malus × domestica Borkh) was developed by crossing ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Lady Williams’ apples. This is a promising cultivar due to its sensorial attributes, which are mainly related to flavor and crunchy texture (Cripps et al., 1993). Apples are seasonal and perishable fruit, although they can be stored for long periods, significantly increasing commercial interest by promoting the development of novel storage technologies that increase the availability of fresh apples and preserve the quality of the final product (Mditshwa et al., 2018).
Controlled atmosphere (CA) is one of the most used methods to store apples and uses low (1 kPa) (Brackmann et al., 2005) or ultra-low (0.8, 0.7 and 0.5 kPa) (Both et al., 2014) O2 partial pressure (pO2) combined with similar CO2 partial pressure (pCO2). However, these gases are maintained at static concentration, and do not reflect physiological changes of the fruit throughout the storage period, and are above the lower oxygen limit (LOL). The quality of the apple is maintained when it is closer to LOL, due to lower mitochondrial respiration (Wright et al., 2015). Several dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA) systems have been proposed to determine LOL and maintain fruit at safe concentrations during storage. Thus, LOL can be monitored based on ethanol production by fruit (DCA-ethanol) (Veltman et al., 2003), fruit chlorophyll fluorescence emission (DCA-CF) (Prange et al., 2007), or respiratory quotient (DCA-RQ) (Brackmann, 2015; Van Schaik et al., 2015; Weber et al., 2015; Bessemans et al., 2016).
Recent studies have shown important aspects regarding the cuticle of the epidermis and the postharvest performance of fruit: permeability and water loss, susceptibility to infections and physiological disorders, and mechanical properties that define texture (Lara, 2018; Lara et al., 2014). Cuticular wax is composed of very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) and their derivatives, including primary and secondary alcohols, aldehydes, alkanes, ketones, wax esters, as well as those derived from other precursors such as triterpenoids (Lara et al., 2015). Therefore, it is necessary to relate the properties and/or composition of this cuticular layer with the quality attributes during the postharvest period.
‘Cripps Pink’ apple is characterized by a very dense pulp as well as a greasy and waxy cuticle that develops mainly during the ripening and storage. Besides ‘Pink Lady’, other apple cultivars have been reported to become greasy during storage, including ‘Jonagold’, ‘Royal Gala’, and ‘Granny Smith’ (Fan et al., 1999; Veraverbeke et al., 2001; Curry, 2008; Yang et al., 2017b, 2017a). Excessive greasiness is considered a disagreeably sensorial quality attribute for fresh fruit consumers (Richardson-Harman et al., 1998). Greasiness is a physical and chemical fruit-surface phenomenon that may occur both in development and during storage and is associated with changes in wax constituents (Curry, 2008; Dong et al., 2012). Many of these changes have been shown to be regulated by ethylene (Li et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2017a). DCA use, mainly DCA-RQ, reduces ethylene production (Both et al., 2018; Donadel et al., 2019), and may affect the characteristics and chemical composition of this cuticular layer of stored apples.
The production and composition evaluation of apple peel wax will provide important data on fruit metabolism and its relation to quality attributes, especially when stored for long-term periods under different DCA methods. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the changes in the concentration and chemical composition of ‘Cripps Pink’ apple peel waxes after storage under CA, DCA-CF and DCA-RQ conditions for eight months of storage plus 7 and 14 d shelf life at 20 °C. In addition, the results of the concentration and chemical composition of apple peel wax were related to the metabolism,decay incidence, and greasiness of fruit.
Section snippets
Plant material and experimental design
The experimental material was composed of ‘Cripps Pink’ apple harvested at physiologically maturity (commercial harvest peak: starch pattern index (SPI) 6.9 and titratable acidity (TA) 4.2 g L−1 of malic acid) in a commercial orchard located at Vacaria, RS, Brazil. The apples were then transported to the Postharvest Research Center of the Federal University of Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. Fruit with any defects were discarded and homogenize on size between treatments. The apples were randomly
Decay incidence, ethylene production, and respiration rate
After eight months of storage, there was no difference among treatments for decay incidence when the chambers were opened (Fig. 2). Postharvest losses of fruit due to decay are likely affected by the ripening stage and storage environment conditions. The fruit intrinsic resistance to pathogenic microorganisms decreases as the fruit ripens and storage period takes place in unfavorable conditions (Barkai-Golan, 2001). After 7 d of shelf life, fruit stored in CA had higher decay incidence than
Conclusions
This is the first study to evaluate the effects of long-term storage under DCA methods plus 14 d of shelf life at 20 °C on the chemical composition of apple peel wax and its relationship with the greasiness and decay incidence. Fatty acids, triterpenoids, and n-alkanes were the predominated cuticular wax compounds of ‘Cripps Pink’ apples. Total wax increased over the shelf life period when apples were stored in DCA, although fruit stored under DCA-RQ did not develop greasiness even after 8
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
To Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) PQ-2018, Process: 311125/2018-2 and Universal MCTI/CNPq) 1/2016 Process: 428691/2016-1. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001 and Edital 11/2014 - Pró-Equipamentos-CAPES.
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