Evaluating the Effects of Citric Acid Application on Reducing Decay, Maintaining Edibility and Shelf Life of Peach Fruits in Cold Storage

Peach fruit (Prunus persica L.) was harvested at the stage of commercial harvest and was then treated with 0, 1, 2, 3 mM citric acid (CiA). A factorial model was planned on a completely randomized block design with three replications. Two factors were used in the experimental design, i.e. 4 storage durations × 4 concentrations of CiA. The impact of CiA was evaluated on postharvest quality parameters, decay incidence (DI), vitamin C, total phenolic compounds, and antioxidant capacity, as the peach fruits were maintained in cold storage at 0 ± 0.5 ˚C and 85-90% relative humidity (RH) for 40 days. By the end of the storage time, peach fruits that were treated with 3 mM CiA showed statistical significance and resulted in the highest values of fruit firmness (FF) (1.75 N), titratable acidity (TA) (0.24%), vitamin C (VC) (3.58 mg.100g-1 FW), total phenolic compounds (TPC) (58.49 mg GAE.100g-1 WF) and antioxidant capacity (AC) (52.96%). CiA treatments significantly controlled the DI by about 30.17 % and remarkably extended the shelf life by about 11.66 days, compared to the control samples during the cold storage. Our findings suggested that using CiA, especially at 3 mM, could be a promising treatment in helping to maintain edibility and to inhibit decay in peach fruits. While these can play an important role in the marketing and export of peach fruits, other benefits include a low cost of the chemical inputs and more safety for human consumption. AbbreviationsCitric acid (CiA), Decay incidence (DI), Vitamin C (VC), Total phenolic compounds (TPC), Antioxidant capacity (AC), Fruit Weight loss (FWL), Fruit firmness (FF), Titratable acidity (TA), Total soluble solid (TSS), Relative humidity (RH)