Open Access(31) Quality Changes in Oriental Melon as Affected by Washing after Fruit Harvest and 1-MCP Treatment
Author(s) -
YuJin Park,
Duk-Hee Cha,
Ki-Yun Jung,
Bong-Hwa Kang,
Jung Myung Lee
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
hortscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.518
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 2327-9834
pISSN - 0018-5345
DOI - 10.21273/hortsci.40.4.1004c
Subject(s) - melon , flesh , browning , horticulture , chemistry , skin color , citrus fruit , food science , biology , botany , artificial intelligence , computer science
Washing oriental melon ( Cucumismelo var. makuwa Makino) is a standard procedure because it facilitates the precise elimination of defective fruit, such as fruit having internal decay symptoms, and also facilitates easier handling of fruit by the elimination of gummy substances on the fruit surface. In most fresh fruits and vegetables, however, washing has never been recommended unless it is related to other practices, such as waxing or immediate processing. Harvested oriental melons were placed in a big water tank and washed with a brush machine immediately before grading, using an automatic grader. Fruit that had sunk down to the bottom of the tank were discarded, as they were premature-fermented fruit with no commercial value. Fruit, intact or washed, were treated with 1-MCP at 0.5–2.0 ppm for 12 hours and stored at room temperature for 3 weeks. Flesh firmness, soluble solids contents, fruit petiole color, and changes of surface suture color were measured to evaluate storability of the fruit. The washed fruit exhibited poor skin color and early suture-browning as compared to the non-washed fruit, regardless of 1-MCP pretreatment. 1-MCP treatment was also effective in maintaining fresh fruit quality as compared to the non-treated fruit. 1-MCP effects were, however, more pronounced in relatively smaller and less mature fruit as compared to the fully mature fruit. 1-MCP was also effective in maintaining white suture color, the most important visual factor currently used for quality evaluation in oriental melon.