The influence of cold storage on the quality of carrot cultivars

Abstract

The influence of long-term storage in cold store conditions on the quality of eight carrot cultivars was investigated. Cultivars chosen for the experiment were – ‘Cesaro’, ‘Jaguar’, ‘Nelix’, ‘Perfekcja’, ‘Recoleta’, ‘Sirus’, ‘Teldino’, ‘Nebula’. The quality was determined in freshly harvested carrots and carrots stored for 8 months. There were determined: weight losses, percentage of carrots with disease symptoms, dry matter content, sugars content, nitrates and nitrites content and sensory quality. Sensory quality was evaluated in the expert panel, with quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). Of investigated carrot cultivars the lowest storage losses was shown by ‘Teldino’ – in respect of weight losses, and ‘Perfekcja’ – in respect of rotting. Storage resulted in changing the content of dry matter, decreasing sugars content but it did not affect nitrates content. The influence of storage on the sensory quality was significant in case of some attributes: firmness, juiciness, bitter taste intensity and, for some cultivars, also sweet taste intensity.