Low temperature conditioning improves American eggplant ( Solanum melongena L.) storage compatibility

DARRÉ, MAGALÍ; VALERGA, LUCÍA; ZARO, MARÍA JOSÉ; LEMOINE, MARÍA LAURA; CONCELLÓN, ANALÍA; VICENTE, ARIEL R

JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURAL SCIENCE & BIOTECHNOLOGY

HEADLEY BROTHERS LTD

Año: 2022 p. 1 - 12

1462-0316

Low temperature conditioning (LTC) has been reported to effectively control post-harvestchilling injury (CI). Conspicuously, it has not been widely adopted by the industry. This is inpart related to an incomplete understanding of the factors governing the treatment´s efficacyand consistency along genotypes and maturities. Herein, we evaluated the effect of fruit type(striped and purple) and harvest maturity (baby and large) on the effectiveness of LTC (10°C for2 days) to control eggplant CI. Purple eggplants showed a strong increase in chilling susceptibility between the baby and large maturity stages. In contrast, striped fruit evidenced no majorchanges in chilling susceptibility along maturation. Susceptible purple large eggplants benefited far more from LTC than baby fruit. Prestorage LTC not only controlled surfacescaled development but also decreased pulp softening and browning. In addition, it substantially improved phenolic antioxidants, anthocyanin, and chlorogenic acid retention duringstorage at 4°C. Overall, results show, for the first time, that the efficacy of LTC in eggplant isdeeply affected by the fruit´s genotype and maturity. Low-temperature conditioning may bea valuable tool to improve the storage compatibility of commercial eggplant batches havingdifferent chilling injury sensitivity.