FACTORS AFFECTING RESPIRATION AND COLOUR DURING STORAGE OF PARSLEY

Parsley is a minor crop in Norway, however, during the wintertime we import this product at a value of 0, 6 mill. N. kr. The purpose of this project is to minimize this import partly by storing and partly by production in greenhouses.

The most important factor of quality besides freshness, is the colour. From the literature we know that several factors influence the degradation of chlorophyll in leaves. Their relative importance in storage of parsley is not yet established.

Scupin (1939) reported varietal differences. Of the temperatures studied (0.5 to 1.0, -0.5 to 1.0, and -2.5 to -3.5°C) the lowest yielded the best results after 11 weeks in storage. Washing of the leaves proved unfavourable, whereas wrapping was favourable by reducing weight losses. Positive effect of different wrapping materials are also reported by Kurki (1966). She found that parsley kept well for 17 days at 0°C, 7 days at 5°C and 3 days at 10°C.

Zink (1961) and Salunkhe et al. (1962) have shown that a kinin, N⁶-benzylaminopurine, strongly reduces the degradation of the chlorophyll in parsley; the effect equals that of 5°C drop in temperature. This compound, however, is not allowed used on food.