QUALITY CHANGES OF TWO SUGAR SNAP PEA CULTIVARS DURING COLD STORAGE

During recent years there has been a pronunced decrease in the production of green peas for the fresh market in Chile. This could be offset somewhat by the introduction of new varieties of edible-podded peas (P. sativum var. Macrocarpon) (Basterrechea et al., 1991). Also, the market for minimally processed products depends on the consumers’ desire for high quality, and color is regarded as a major quality attribute in determining product acceptability. Color changes and chlorophyll degradation in whole, unprocessed horticultural products are a consequence of changes at the microscopic level, and seem to be regulated internally by the enzymes and not externally by the environment (Heaton et al., 1996). The enzymes primarily responsible for quality deterioration of unprocessed vegetables and for the postharvest changes in color, texture, flavor and nutritional quality are: chlorophyllase, magnesium dechelatase, polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase (Williams et al., 1986; Gnanasekharan et al., 1992). In the present study, an attempt was made to correlate some biochemical and physical changes during postharvest storage of two sugar snap pea cultivars.