POSTHARVEST BEHAVIOR DURING STORAGE OF YOUNG COCONUT (COCOS NUCIFERA L.) AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

Trimmed young coconuts wrapped with PVC film have a short storage life. Current commercial shipments are carried out at 3-6°C without visual chilling symptoms. Experiments were conducted to study chemical composition and postharvest features of intact and trimmed fruit wrapped with PVC film and stored at 4 and 25°C. After 3 weeks at 25°C, coconut water had a slight off-flavor score while at 4°C a strong off-flavor score was observed. Similar findings were found in the coconut kernel but the scores were higher. Trimmed fruit had a much higher respiration and ethylene production rate than intact fruit. At 4°C, the coconut water had about 100-300 nl L^-1 dissolved O₂, but at 25°C, O₂ could not be detected. TBA reactive compounds in coconut water at 25°C increased slightly during storage, while at 4°C it was about 50% higher than 25°C after 2 weeks of storage. TBA reactive compounds in the coconut kernel were 3 times higher than in coconut water, but there was no difference between the two storage temperatures. Electrical conductivity in coconut water at 4 and 25°C was similar, while the electrolyte leakage from the kernel at 4°C was 20% higher than at 25°C. The data suggested that 4°C was a suboptimal storage temperature for young coconut.