Preservation the quality of fresh cut persimmon by organic acids and 1-MCP

Todays, fruits consumption as fresh-cut has high commercial value. However, the sliced fruit in postharvest period encounter with enzymatic browning and pathogen attack. In this study, ascorbic acid (1% for two minutes), oxalic acid (0.5% for two minutes), 1-MCP (1 μl/l for 24 hours), distilled water (control) treatments and in combination with 1-MCP were used to increase the shelf life of fresh-cut persimmons. Persimmons sliced were dipped in the treatments for two minutes, then dried at room temperature and packed in polyethylene container by cellophane cover and were stored at 4°C. Some qualitative, quantitative and biochemical parameters were measured on 7, 14 and 21 days after storage. Analysis of variance has illustrated that a significant difference exists among treatments for most of the evaluated parameters. The results showed that, persimmons sliced treated with 1-MCP, oxalic and ascorbic acids had lower weight loss and lower browning as well as higher taste and marketability than control fruits. Also, the samples which treated with ascorbic acid 1-MCP and oxalic acid 1-MCP had higher tissue strength and lower ion leakage as compared to the control. 1-MCP, oxalic and ascorbic acid treatments significantly led to the decreases of the juice pH, while the vitamin C was significantly increased comparing to the control sample. Generally, results showed that, organic acid compounds and 1-MCP reduced destruction of freshcut persimmons during cold chamber, and are suitable treatments for maintenance postharvest quality of this fruit.