Postharvest conservation of fresh and minimally processed ‘Dekopon’ tangerine in different temperatures and storage times

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of refrigeration and the storage time of fresh and minimally processed tangerine 'Dekopon' seeking to increase its useful life for marketing. In experiment 1, the harvested fruit were stored in temperatures of 4, 8 and 12 °C and analyzed in 0, 5 and 10 days. In experiment 2, the fruit were minimally processed and storage at temperatures of 4, 8 and 12 °C and analyzed 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 days. The analysis of the evaluated data were weight loss, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), ratio TSS:TA, Vitamin C and color parameters. The results for experiment 1 showed that in general, day 0 presented higher values of physicochemical parameters and day 5 at 8 °C presented higher concentration of vitamin C. For experiment 2, in the minimally processed fruit, day 3 demonstrated more retention of physicochemical parameters, except for mass loss and day 12 at 4 °C resulted in a higher content of vitamin C.