CHILLING INJURY AND STORAGE OF MANGO (MANGIFERA INDICA L.) FRUIT HELD UNDER LOW TEMPERATURES

Mature green 'Kensington' mango fruit held at 20°C after harvest softened and were ripe after 1 week. Similar fruit held at 1°, 5°, 10° or 15°C remained fully firm after 1 week of storage. The extent of subsequent softening was related to the storage temperature. The fruit at 15°C were fully soft and ripe after 3 weeks of storage while those at 1° or 5°C were only slightly soft. Fruit at 10°C had intermediate softness.

External visual symptoms of chilling injury were apparent on fruit after removal from 1 week of storage at 1/de or 5/deC. Chilling injury symptoms became more severe as fruit ripened at 20/deC and with increased storage time. No visual symptoms of chilling injury were apparent in fruit stored up to 3 weeks at 10/de or 15/deC.

Lowering of storage temperature suppressed flesh colour in ripened fruit and had little apparent influence on peel colour. Only storage at 1/deC suppressed total soluble solids in ripened fruit whereas storage at 1/de, 5/de and 10/deC caused ripened fruit to have lowered pH and higher titratable acidity than control fruit or 15/deC fruit.