Changes in fruit firmness, quality traits and cell wall constituents of two highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) during postharvest cold storage

•Postharvest metabolism of blueberry was significantly affected by cold storage.•Quality changes were due to changes in fruit firmness and physicochemical compositions.•Fruit firmness loss was associated with increased weight loss and water soluble pectin content.•Fruit firmness loss was associated...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScientia horticulturae Vol. 246; pp. 557 - 562
Main Authors Liu, Binghua, Wang, Kaifang, Shu, Xiuge, Liang, Jing, Fan, Xiaoli, Sun, Lei
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 27.02.2019
Subjects
Blueberry
Cell wall composition
Firmness
Softening
Weight loss
HCEL
TSS
WL
WSP
Cell wall composition
RH
Blueberry
Weight loss
Firmness
CEL
Softening
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Summary:•Postharvest metabolism of blueberry was significantly affected by cold storage.•Quality changes were due to changes in fruit firmness and physicochemical compositions.•Fruit firmness loss was associated with increased weight loss and water soluble pectin content.•Fruit firmness loss was associated with decreased contents of cellulose and hemicellulose.•Bluecrop blueberries were much more resistant to postharvest cold storage than Sierra blueberries. Blueberries are now the second most economically important soft fruit. However, they are highly perishable and susceptible to rapid spoilage. Softening is one of the main reasons for short postharvest life of blueberries. The changes of fruit firmness, weight loss, flavor quality and cell wall composition of Vaccinium corymbosum cv. Bluecrop and Vaccinium corymbosum cv. Sierra were investigated in this study. The results showed that fruit firmness declined concomitantly with the increase of fruit weight loss and water soluble pectin (WSP) content paralleled by a decrease in the content of cellulose (CEL) and hemicellulose (HCEL) during postharvest cold storage at 0 ℃ and 90% relative humidity. Compared with Sierra blueberries, Bluecrop blueberries were much more resistant to postharvest cold storage as manifested by the higher values in fruit flavor quality and firmness which were associated with less weight loss, lower WSP content and higher amount of CEL and HCEL.
ISSN:0304-4238
1879-1018
DOI:10.1016/j.scienta.2018.11.042