Author(s)

Dulal Chandra, Ae Jin Choi, Jung Soo Lee, Jinsu Lee, Ji Gang Kim

Postharvest Research Team, National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon, Republic of Korea.

Harvested strawberry fruit is highly perishable because of its soft texture and microbial infestation during postharvest handling. The applications of carbon dioxide (CO₂) gas on the quality parameters of strawberry harvested in winter season have shown better effects in several studies. However, very little information is available for the same in summer harvested strawberry. This study was aimed at finding an optimum concentration and duration of CO₂ treatment in strawberry fruit var. “Goha” harvested in summer season to increase or maintain postharvest qualities. Fresh strawberries were treated with 15%, 30% and 50% CO₂ for 1 or 3 h and then stored at 4?C for up to 13 days along with untreated control. Strawberry samples treated with 50% CO₂ for 1 or 3 h and both 15% and 30% for 3 h had higher firmness than samples treated with both 15% and 30% for 1 h and control. In general, total soluble solids (TSS) slightly increased or maintained during storage in all samples except control. The values of pH slightly declined whereas titratable acidity showed opposite trends. However, there was no significant difference found among CO₂ treated samples. Lightness (L*) of “Goha” samples with no CO₂ treatment decreased gradually while it was almost maintained in CO₂ treated strawberries. Strawberry samples treated with 15% CO₂ for 3 h maintained better quality with higher scores of overall quality and visual texture until 9 days of storage. Samples treated with 15% CO₂ for 3 h also received lower softening scores until 9 days of storage compared to other CO₂ treated samples. These results showed that 15% CO₂ for 3 h condition could be an effective postharvest treatment for maintaining quality of “Goha” strawberry.

Carbon Dioxide, Firmness, Quality, Strawberry, Storage

Chandra, D. , Choi, A. , Lee, J. , Lee, J. and Kim, J. (2015) Changes in Physicochemical and Sensory Qualities of “Goha” Strawberries Treated with Different Conditions of Carbon Dioxide. Agricultural Sciences, 6, 325-334. doi: 10.4236/as.2015.63033.