Effect of Postharvest Treatments of CaCl2 at Different Temperatures on Fruit Quality and Storage Life of Peach cv. Kousari

In this research, peach fruits cv. Kousari, were treated at different temperatures of CaCl2 concentrations for 5 minutes as a dipping method. After treatment, fruits were stored at 2-3˚C with a relative humidity of 80-90% for 28 days and then, the role of temperature and calcium chloride on qualitative characteristics and shelf life were evaluated every week. The experiment was carried out with five treatments of temperature(4, 8, 16, 32, 64°C) for five minutes and two levels of calcium chloride (0 and 60 mM) as a factorial experiment based on complete randomized design with three replications. The results showed that the temperature of 64°C with calcium chloride was found to be the best treatment to maintain fruit qualitative parameters such as fruit firmness, vitamin C content, total soluble solids, fresh weight loss and calcium content. High temperature treatment without CaCl2 was also effective in maintaining of fruit firmness and reducing fresh weight loss.