Prevention of chilling injury in sweet bell pepper stored at 1.5ºC by heat treatments and individual shrink packaging

The goal of this three-year study was to develop a quarantine-like treatment for two commercial sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars, based on physical treatments and packaging materials, and to understand, in part, the chilling resistance-mode-of-action. This research has revealed that individual shrink packaging following prestorage-HWRB treatment, significantly reduced chilling injuries and chilling severity, as shown by very low percentage of CI and a very low CI index, while maintaining a good overall quality (less decay incidence and weight loss) after 21 d at 1.5°C plus 3 d at 20°C (sea transport to USA and Japan from Israel + marketing simulation). The chilling injury reduction is mainly due to a significant water loss reduction by the shrink film, while HWRB treatment contributed mainly to a significant decay reduction, and to some degree of inhibition of chilling development. Cultivar ‘Selika’ was found less susceptible to chilling then cultivar ‘7158’.