Effects of pulsed light on the post­harvest quality and shelf-life of highbush blueberries (cv. Draper)

Abstract

Blueberry consumption has been a burgeoning interest attributed to their nutritional and health benefits. However, the main limitation to blueberry marketability is their perishability due to water loss, fungal, and mechanical damage during post-harvest preservation. In this study, pulsed light (PL) treatments with doses of 3, 6 and 9 J cm-2 were applied in the 6-week storage of highbush blueberry (cv. Draper) at 0.5°C under 90-95% relative humidity (RH) conditions. The quality changes of berry were assessed by using physicochemical attributes and antioxidant activity bi-weekly at week 0, 2, 4, 6. The results show that in spite of the partial loss of the antioxidant activity and total soluble solids (TSS), PL at dose of 6 J cm-2 was found to increase firmness and titratable acidity (TA), and decrease weight loss, rot incidence, and pH during post-harvest storage, which lead to a better maintenance of blueberry quality and shelf-life extension.

Keywords

• Small berries
• Post-harvest technology
• Non-thermal processing
• Fruit quality
• Firmness
• Antioxidant capacity