The experiment was carried out aiming to evaluate the effect of storage temperature and O2 and CO2 concentrations during controlled atmosphere (CA) storage, as well as the effect of ethylene absorption and elimination during cold storage and CA storage on postharvest quality of ‘Bruno’ and ‘Hayward’ kiwifruits. The storage temperatures were -0.5ºC and 0.5ºC with 97% relative humidity. The cold storage conditions evaluated were: without ethylene absorption; with chemical ethylene absorption, and elimination of ethylene with ventilation of storage rooms. The CA conditions evaluated were: 2kPa of O2 with 5 and 7kPa of CO2, with or without chemical ethylene absorption. The evaluations were done after three months for the both cultivars in cold storage. In CA storage the evaluations were done after three and eight months storage for ‘Bruno’ and ‘Hayward’ respectively. The results show that the temperature of -0.5ºC mantained in both cultivars, higher flesh firmness and higher titratable acidity, at chamber opening and after 5 days at 20ºC than 0.5ºC. CA conditions with chemical ethylene absorption mantained higher quality than without ethylene absorption. In CA storage 2kPa of O2 and 7kPa of CO2 resulted in fruit with higher flesh firmness and higher titratable acidity than 2kPa of O2 and 5kPa of CO2. Chamber ventilation in cold storage for ethylene removal was not efficient to preserve fruit quality Cultivar Hayward showed higher storability than cultivar Bruno.
Actinidia; postharvest quality; cold storage
