Intermittent warming effects on postharvest cold storage of 'Fortune' mandarins

'Fortune' mandarins were harvested in the middle of March and stored 2 months in cold rooms. Control fruitswere kept at constant temperature (6°C), and the otherswere exposed to cycles of low and high temperatures (5 and 2 days respectively). The effectiveness of three intermittent sequences were evaluated: 0/12°C, 2/10°C, and 4/8°C. A 95% relative humidity (RH) was used. As additional shelf-life period, at monthly intervals, fruits were kept at 20 0C and 75% RH during 10 days. Intermittent warming at 0/12°C and 2/10°C greatly reduced chilling injury (CI). Weight loss (WL) was slightly higher in fruits exposed to intermittent warming than in the reference, and mould decay was very low in all cases. Loss of quality was observed in fruits subjected to intermittent warming at 4/8°C, while fruits held at 0/12 °C showed high quality and good appearance during the storage period. The quality of mandarins stored at 2/10°C was good during the 1st month of storage, but decreased afterwards