The main objective of this work was to prolong the shelf life of peaches at ambient conditions. Initially, the studies were to get a film forming of cassava starch and bee wax with similar properties of commercial waxes. The second pass was apply in the surface of the fruits, commercial wax (" Fruit wax") or film-forming of cassava starch and bee wax. The peaches of the variety 'Biuti' were picked in 14/01/1999 and 120 uniform fruits were scratched. The analyses were of loss of fresh mass, respiration, texture, total soluble solids (TSS), total acidity, and pH tested every 3 days during 12 days. At first, fruits were put into 0.3g/l of "Benomyl" in hot water (52ºC) during 2 minutes. Four treatments were made: Control, Fruit Wax, Film-forming of Cassava Starch and Film forming of Cassava Starch and Bee Wax. The fruits treated Fruit Wax and Film forming of Cassava Starch and Bee Wax showed improved efficiency in relation to loss of fresh mass to the Control and Film forming of Cassava Starch treatments. The respiration was measured to be in the order of 40mg de CO2.kg-1.h-1. Sugar profile verified that sucrose is a sugar found in larger quantities, and verified traces of glucose and fructose in some samples. Equally to total soluble solids, the Fruit Wax treatment decreased the values of sucrose compared with the Control. The use of Film forming of Cassava Starch and Bee Wax was better than the expectations, being very similar to the Fruit Wax treatment in all attributes. It was also superior to Control and Film forming of Cassava Starch with respect to loss of fresh mass.
peach; postharvest; wax; cassava starch; storage
