Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 5.4.
Recommended storage temperature and storage potential as postharvest
life of selected tropical fruits. Data extracted from commercial publications.
Postharvest life
at optimum
temperature (days)
Optimum storage
temperature (
o
C)
Relative humidity
(%)
Fruit
Acerola
0
85-90
50-58
Atemoya
13
85-90
28-42
Avocado Mexican
5
85-90
14-28
West Indian
10
85-90
14-28
Banana
14
90-95
7-28
Breadfruit
13
90-95
14-40
Carambola
1
90-95
21-28
Cherimoya
13
85-90
14-28
Durian
4
85-90
42-56
Guava
10
90-95
14-21
Jackfruit
13
90-95
14-45
Langsat
11
90-95
10-15
Litchi
1
90-95
21-35
Longan
2
90-95
21-35
Mango
10-12
85-90
14-25
Mangosteen
13
85-90
14-25
Papaya
8-12
85-90
7-21
Passion fruit
12
85-90
14-21
Pineapple
10
90-95
14-36
Rambutan
12
90-95
7-21
Sweetsop
7
85-90
28
fi rmness. Most tropical fruits do not show as rapid change in quality, but delays
in cooling should be kept to a minimum. Apples that have a long postharvest
life and lower rate of respiration should be cooled within 3 days of harvest,
to prevent loss of apple fi rmness and acidity during storage for 7.5 months at
~3°C. For most climacteric tropical commodities, the delay in cooling allows
continued ripening and overall loss of storage potential. This is a problem,
especially for commodities such as papaya and atemoya, which have a short
shelf-life (10-14 days). In general, the higher the metabolic rate (respiration)
the shorter the overall shelf-life, the greater the impact of delayed cooling on
preserving quality (Fig. 5.2).
Fresh fruits and vegetables probably receive the greatest temperature abuse
at the retail level (LeBlanc
et al.
, 1996). Mean temperatures of display cases
used for fruits and vegetable are
ca.
8°C. The majority of those commodities
that should have been stored at <4°C are above the recommended temperature
range. The same percentage is found for commodities that should have been
held >12°C.
