Influence of Harvest Time on Sensorial Traits of Native Early Apple Cultivars during Cold Storage

The investigations were carried out in 2007 on the fruit of 7 native early-ripening apple cultivars grown in Karaj climatic conditions، harvested in two phenological stages of maturity and ripenning. The harvested samples were stored at (0 ± 0. 5) C and (85 ± 5) % of humidity. The measured sensorial traits consisted in: aroma، flavor، sweetness، flesh quality and general acceptability achieved by an experienced group of panelists in the predefined temporal intervals during cold storage. Biochemical tests were computed for determination of pH، TA and TSS. The factorial experiment was defined within completely randomized design. The results showed significant differences at 1% probability for most of the evaluated sensorial traits between two picking phases، among cultivars and also in temporal intervals of cold storage. The highest level of storage potential meaning as quality conservation was found in ''Mashad''، ''Gol Bahar'' and ''Golab-e-Kohanz'' descentely for the first picking or maturity phase، while it was shown that the fruit picked at ripening better sensorial qualities were determined in the decreaing order as: ''Golab-e-Isfahan''، ''Golab-e-Kohanz''، ''Gol Bahar''، ''Ghermez-e-Rezaieh''، ''Mashad'' and ''Assali''. More oscillations of sensorial traits were assessed in the first harvest samles of the early cultivars related to the ripening time. Considering، genetic variability of the plant material and observed qualitative oscillations during different temporal stages of storage it was concluded that highest climacteric point was always occurred at the middle intervals of storage. Higher flavor index was registered in the first intervals of storage for the samples picked at second phase. Ulterior comparative results of panel tests in different temporal intervals for maturity and ripening phases demonstrated that superior levels of sensorial quality registered at riprning was gradually decreased، meaning that no significant difference were observed in the long storage periods of the sensorial values for both of the picking phases.