INFLUENCE OF HARVEST SEASON, FRUIT MATURITY AND STORAGE TEMPERATURE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILLING INJURY IN ‘EUREKA’ LEMON FRUIT

Lemons show chilling injury (CI) symptoms when exposed to temperatures below 13°C. Lemon CI symptoms are pitting, membranous stain or membranosis, and albedo browning. However, Petracek et al. (1995) also reported peteca, a pitting which is not associated with low temperature. Varietal susceptibility and storage temperature are the principal factors that cause this problem, but there is evidence that CI is predisposed by preharvest factors. This work reports the effects of harvest season, maturity and storage temperature on ‘Eureka’ lemon chilling injury susceptibility.