Foods (Feb 2020)

Combination of Low Fluctuation of Temperature with TiO<sub>2</sub> Photocatalytic/Ozone for the Quality Maintenance of Postharvest Peach

  • Xiaoyu Jia,
  • Jiangkuo Li,
  • Meijun Du,
  • Zhiyong Zhao,
  • Jianxin Song,
  • Weiqiao Yang,
  • Yanli Zheng,
  • Lan Chen,
  • Xihong Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/foods9020234
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 2
p. 234

Abstract

Read online

Chilling injury, tissue browning, and fungal infection are the major problems of peach fruit during post-harvest storage. In this study, a precise temperature control cold storage with low-temperature fluctuation (LFT) and internal circulation flow system is designed. An ozone (O3) generator and a (titanium dioxide) TiO2 photocatalytic reactor were applied to cold storage to investigate the variation of LFT combined with ozone fumigation and a TiO2 photocatalytic reactor in the efficiency of delaying ripening and maintaining peach fruit quality. Results showed that the temperature fluctuation with the improved control system was only ±0.1 to ±0.2 °C compared with that of ±0.5 to ±1.0 °C in conventional cold storage. LFT significantly reduced the chilling injury of peach fruit during storage. Although LFT combined with fumigation of 200 mg m−3 ozone periodical treatment slightly damaged the peach fruit after 40 d of storage, its combination with the TiO2 photocatalytic system significantly improved the postharvest storage quality of the fruit. This treatment maintained higher titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), better firmness, color, microstructure, and lower decay rate, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities, total phenol accumulation, respiratory intensity, ethylene production, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content during 60 d of storage. All the results show that LFT combined with the TiO2 photocatalytic system might be a promising technology for quality preservation in peach fruit storage.

Keywords