The Effect of 1 - methy Cyclopropene and Nano Particles of Potassium Permanganat on Qualitive Characteristics and Storage Life of Two Apple Cultivars

Apple is one of the most important horticultural crop that storage and post-harvest problems attract the growing interest of researchers and industry’s authorities. In this study، the effect of 1 - methyl cyclopropene (1-MCP) and ethylene nano-absorbent (potassium permanganat) as a new combination، effective and low cast treatment on the durability of apple and its storage was investigated. Two commercial apple cultivars، Wealthy and the native Dirras-e Mashhad، present in National Horticultural Research Station، kamalshahr-karaj were selected. The samples were harvested according to the starch index (2-2. 5) and were pre-cooled for 24 hours and then treated with 1 ppm concentration of 1-methyl cyclopropene by spraying in an impenetrable atmosphere and maintained for 8 hours at room temperature and finally transferred into the cold room. Ethylene treatment was performed by placing the nano absorbent packets of 5 gr within the cardboard containers together with the non treated fruits as control. The samples were stored at 0. 5 °C and 90% of relative humidity. Series of tests consisting of fruit weight، flesh firmness، ascorbic acid concentration، total soluble solids (TSS)، titrable acidity (TA) and pH measurement were carried out on the sampls once a month in triplicate order. Sensory evaluations were carried out at the end of five months of storage period، comparing the treated samples of both cultivars with the control. The experiment was organized as completely randomized design and the collected data were analyzed by SAS software. weight loss and flesh firmness in both experimental samples demonstrated less reduction as compared to the control the use of 1-MCP affected TSS، pH and TA significantly (p<0. 05) and inhibited the rise pH and reduced also acidity TA during storage، while no significant effect (p>0/05) was noted by the use of nano-absorbent. The native ''Dirras-e Mashhad'' showed higher pH value than ''Wealthy'' under the combination of ENA and 1-MCP. The results showed that this technique can increase most characteristics of apples duringthe storage.