Evaluation of precooling temperature and 1-MCP treatment on quality of ‘Golden Delicious’ apple

The presented study simulates commercial practice and focuses on the effect of time gap between harvest and the beginning of cold storage. Apple fruit ʻGolden Delicious’ was harvested in Hungary and randomly separated into 3 groups for precooling at 1, 4 and 10 °C. After 7 d cold storage, groups were randomly split half to control and the other half was subjected to gaseous 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) treatment for 24 h on their cold storage temperature (1, 4 and 10 °C). All samples were stored for 6 months at 1 °C followed by 7 d shelf-life at ambient temperature. Ethylene production, firmness, total soluble solid content, surface color and disorder incidence were determined. Significant correlation was found between color parameters hue and normalized green with firmness, SSC and ethylene production. Precooling temperature and 1-MCP treatment significantly affected apple quality (p < 0.01). Initial storage at 10 °C and application of 1-MCP on this temperature had no clear effect on maintaining fruit quality compared to control after 6 months storage. On the other hand, 1 °C and 4 °C precooling and applied 1-MCP treatment could slow the softening of samples during 6 months storage and in the following shelf-life. Apple quality was observed to change faster for group of 10 °C precooling and slower for groups of 1 °C and 4 °C. According to the results, precooling of apple fruit at 1 °C can be recommended in case the 1-MCP treatment is delayed