STUDIES ON CA-STORAGE OF POMEGRANATE (PUNICA GRANATUM L., CV. HICAZ)

Pomegranate fruit of the cultivar Hicaz, grown under Mediterranean climatical conditions in Antalya, Turkey, were harvested in mid-October after fungicide treatment and stored in three different temperatures (6°C, 8°C, 10°C) and three different storage atmospheres (1.5% CO₂-3.0% O₂; 3.0% CO₂-3.0% O₂; 6.0% CO₂-3.0% O₂).

At certain intervals samples were collected from each storage condition for physical and chemical analyses (e.g. weight loss, amounts of titratable acid, Vitamin-C content, skin colour, total soluble solids content and juice content). Decay caused by fungus and physiological disorders were recorded.

The results showed that CA-storage conditions have a favourable effect on the quality of pomegranate fruit and enable storage of Hicaz cultivar for more than 6 months at 6°C storage temperature with minimal quality loss.