PROBLEMS OF STORING DIFFERENT VEGETABLES TOGETHER
It is relatively well known that apples and other fruits when stored together have a detrimental effect upon the storage life of flowers, particularly carnations. It is less well known that certain vegetables can have the same effect on flowers, as well as fruit effecting vegetables, and vegetables can effect each other.
When we in Sweden at the agricultural college at Alnarp, made contact with the wholesale trade in order to ascertain what interest they had for investigations into storage problems of this type, we found that a great interest was shown for these problems. We also discovered that there was a great lack of knowledge concerning these problems both in the wholesale and the retail trade. The trial programme, which has been carried out, has been done in cooperation with the two largest wholesalers in Sweden (ICA and KF), who with great interest have studied the trials and later given out publications to inform their retailers and others concerned, about the results.
The trials, which are at an initial stage, are carried out partly as combined storage trials in isolated rooms. At Alnarp there are 26 one cubic metre in volume well insulated boxes. The products to be stored together are placed in these boxes according to a special plan, at a definite temperature, usually 10°C. The products have been stored together for 3 days after which they have been stored alone for 3 days, followed by judging. The results have been based upon quality assessment and waste figures. Some types of combined storage trials have also been carried out in shop refrigerators at regulated temperatures.
Judging of different products aggressiveness has in certain cases been made in relation to carnations. It has been shown that this flower is extremely sensative to the effects of ethylene from different products (table 1 and 2).
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1971.20.20
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1971.20.20