Cell wall physicochemical properties as indicators of peach quality during fruit ripening after cold storage

Abstract

A comparative study between melting flesh peach fruit (Prunus persica L. Batsch cvs. Royal Glory and Morettini No 2) with contrasting tissue firmness during their on-tree ripening was conducted. Such fruit were cold stored (0 °C) for 4 and 6 weeks, and subsequently transferred at 25 °C (shelf life) for up to 5 days and evaluated for quality attributes and cell wall physicochemical properties. Data were partly unexpected, since fruit of the soft cultivar (Morettini No 2) were characterized by lower exo- and endo-PG activity, lower amounts of ethylene evolution, as well as higher amounts of endogenous calcium bound in the cell wall compared to fruit of the firmer cultivar (Royal Glory). These differences may be attributed to the incidence of chilling injury symptoms, evident as loss of juiciness in Morettini No 2 fruit, while Royal Glory fruit were characterized by acceptable appearance and eating quality even after 6 weeks cold storage plus 5 days shelf life, as the fruit softened gradually without cell rupture. Overall results showed that no direct relationship between cell wall physicochemical properties and sensory attributes can be established, indicating the complexity of peach fruit ripening. Since fruit of both cultivars presented similar tissue firmness after 5 days shelf life an attempt to distinguish normal peach fruit softening from cell rupture-chilling injury also has been made in the current study