Effect of high temperature conditioning,fungicide treatment and film wrapping on the keeping quality of 'Nova' tangelo during cold storage

'Nova' tangelo fruits harvested at the end of January 1996 were stored at 6°C and 90–95% relative humidity (RH) for 4 or 8 weeks; each storage period was followed by an additional week of simulated marketing conditions at 20°C and 70% RH. Before storage the fruits were dipped in a solution of chlorine or imazalil at 500 p.p.m., packaged in polystyrene trays with a 15 μm thick heat shrinkable film and conditioned at 38°C and 85–90% RH for 48 h. High temperature conditioning was not effective in reducing ageing and decay incidence, moreover, film wrapping resulted in poor fruits, which turned brown on the skin and were unsaleable when unwrapped. The incidence of decay at the end of the trial was about 30% for fruit treated with chlorine, 40% for fruit treated with no fungicide and only 3.5% for those treated with imazalil. Wrapped fruit which received no fungicide treatment had 47% rotten fruit, but losses were only 3.5% in the wrapped ones treated with imazalil. The combination of film wrapping with imazalil gave the best results in reducing ageing, weight losses and had a beneficial effect in reducing the severity of chilling injury. Treatments had no influence on chemical parameters, with the exception of vitamin C, which was lower in fruit conditions at 38°C. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.