PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL TREATMENTS ENHANCING POSTHARVEST FRUIT QUALITY IN ZUCCHINI

Chilling injury (CI) is one of the most serious problems that reduce the quality of zucchini after cold storage. In order to alleviate this physiological disorder, we have evaluated the effect of different postharvest treatments on CI and other fruit quality parameters in two contrasting cultivars. Before cold storage at 4°C, fruits of each cultivar were subjected to various treatments, including 2% of calcium chloride, 1% diphenylamine, and warm water at 37°C or 42°C. Other fruits were individually wrapped with a plastic film, or preconditioned at 12°C for 48 h before cold storage. Treated and control fruits were compared for a number of postharvest fruit quality parameters such as weight loss, firmness and chilling injury. The results demonstrate that the temperature conditioning treatments as well as the individual shrink-wrapping were the most effective treatments to alleviate CI in zucchini squash, also reducing the loss of weight and firmness.