Investigating the Effect of Post-Harvest Treatments of Spermidine, Calcium Chloride and Temperature on Quality and Storage Characteristics of Chico Fruit (Manilkara zapota L.) in Minab City

One of the most important factors of consumer acceptance is the products appearance. Any signs of contamination, caries and softening of fruits during storage, leads to a reduction in market acceptance of the products. So, it is essential to use safe controling methods to prevent the damage and maintain the quality of fruit at proper warehouse temperatures.
In order to evaluate the effects of preservative and temperature treatments on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Chico-Oval- fruit at post-harvest stage. A randomised controlled trial with full factorial designs study was conducted at Jiroft Agricultural Research Center. In this study two factors included preservative (calcium chloride 60 mM and spermidine 2 mM) and temperature (7, 12 and 22°C) were studied.
The analysis of variance showed that most of the studied factors were statistically significant. The treatments of calcium chloride and storage at 7°C were more effective than other treatments on factors like wieght loss, Soft-Tissue Firmness, pH, soluble solids content, titratable acidity and color. Control and treatment at a temperature of 22°C showed earlier damage, deterioration and chemical changes in the Chico fruit.
Calcium chloride and storage at 7°C can increase the storage life of Chico fruit in warehouses.