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Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment Vol.9 (3&4):

- . 2011

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Storage temperature and quality of red mombin fruits (Spondias purpurea L.)
Douglas Seijum Kohatsu 1*, Valdir Zucareli 1, Wilian Polaco Brambilla 2, Regina Marta Evangelista 3, Elizabeth Orika Ono 4 and Tiago Roque Benetoli da Silva 1
1

UEM/CCA/DCA Agronomia Umuarama, PR, Brazil. 2 Departamento de Botnica, Instituto de Biocincias, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil. 3 Departamento de Gesto e Tecnologia Agroindustrial da Faculdade de Cincias Agronmicas da Universidade Estadual Paulista, UNESP. 4 Departamento de Botnica, Instituto de Biocincias, Unesp, Botucatu, SP, Brazil. *e-mail: dskohatsu2@uem.br

Received 18 January 2011, accepted 22 March 2011.

Abstract
The aim was to study the effect of different storage temperatures on quality of red mombin fruit. The red mombin fruits were obtained from the Company CEAGESP/Sao Paulo/Brazil and transported in cool boxes to the laboratory, where they were selected on the base of appearance, maturity lack of physical damage, sanitized in 50 ppm chlorine-free solution and packaged in polystyrene trays wrapped with film of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The experiment was a completely randomized design with three temperatures (4, 8 and 25C) and 5 time intervals (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 days after the experiment installation). In each survey firmness, titratable acidity, soluble solids, ascorbic acid content, the skin color and also the release of CO2 by the fruit over time were evaluated. It was observed that low temperatures prolong the fruits shelf life and the storage temperature influences the characteristics, the temperature of 8C was most suitable for the storage of red mombin fruits. Besides, the fruit color was a good indicator of changes in the pulp during storage. Key words: Postharvest, tropical fruits, Anacardiaceae. -Please, send us complete postal address of the authors.

Introduction Red mombin (Spondias purpurea L.) is a tree of Anacardiaceae family originating in Central America and widespread in all countries of tropical America 13. The fruits are dark red when ripe, with sweet and acidulous flesh and pleasant flavor 8, and have a high calorific value (74 kcal/100 g), mainly due to the high concentration of total carbohydrates (19.1%). According Orwa et al. 10, glucose, fructose and sucrose together account for 65% of the soluble matter. Recently, red mombin fruit has attracted the attention of the processing industries due to industrialization and export potential. For being a climacteric fruit, accelerated metabolism and quick senescence prevent the storage for extended periods 12. According Albuquerque et al. 1, tropical fruits may have prolonged shelf life by reducing respiration rate and ethylene production, but storage techniques would be essential in this process. The cold storage has been the most widely used method for reducing postharvest losses. Ideal storage temperature which potentially prolongs the postharvest without causing physiological damage in fruits is quite variable, particularly in tropical fruits. Therefore, the aim of the study was to test the effect of different storage temperatures on red mombin fruit quality. Materials and Methods Red mombin fruits were obtained from the CEAGESP/So Paulo/ Brazil, transported in cool boxes to the Fruit and Vegetable Postharvest Laboratory of the Universidade Estadual Paulista/ Botucatu-SP, selected on the base of appearance, maturity and lack of physical damage and sanitized with chlorine-free solution (50 ppm). They were packed in polystyrene trays wrapped with polyvinyl chloride film (PVC). The treatments were as follows: T1
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refrigerated 4C, T2 refrigerated 8C and T3 refrigerated 25C. The experimental design was completely randomized factorial with three temperature treatments (4, 8 and 25C) and 5 storage periods (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 days after the experiment started). The following parameters were evaluated: respiration rate, firmness, soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content and skin color. The characterization of respiration curve was determined by the release of CO2 according Bleinroth et al. 4. Fruit firmness was determined by STEVENS LFRA texture analyser with penetration of 10 mm and a speed of 2.0 mm s-1, and the results were expressed in gram force (g f). Titratable acidity and soluble solids (SS) were determined by titration and refractometry (refractometer ABB/Atago-N1 type) at 25C 2 and results were expressed as g of acid per 100 g of pulp and Brix, respectively. The ascorbic acid content was determined with 10 g of pulp crushed and dissolved in 50 ml of 1% oxalic acid. After homogenization samples were titrated with 2,6dichlorophenol indophenol (DCFI) 3. The results were expressed as mg ascorbic acid per 100 ml of sample. The skin color was measured with colorimeter Konica Minolta (Chroma Meter 400) and parameters were L* and the Hue angle14. Statistical analysis was performed by variance model analysis, through Sisvar program, using the 5% significance level. Results and Discussion The fruits did not show climacteric pattern (Fig. 1), possibly because at the time of acquisition the fruits were at the advanced stage of maturity and had already reached the highest respiratory rate. High respiratory activity on the first day is probably the result of transport, which may have increased fruit respiration.

Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.9 (3&4), July-October 2011

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

4C

8C

25C

Storage time (days)

Figure 1. CO2 release (ml CO2 kg-1h-1) in red mombin fruits stored under different temperatures for 8 days.

Durigan et al. 7 explained that mechanical damage is among causes of postharvest losses. Such injuries cause irreparable damage to the products, reducing shelf life as a result of increase in respiratory activity and chemical changes. The initial respiratory activity in red mombin fruits was about 60 ml CO2 kg-1 h-1, with a tendency to maintain high respiration in fruits stored at 25C and low activity in cold-stored fruits during the study. It is known that the decrease in temperature is closely correlated to respiratory rate reduction, however, fruits stored at 4C had higher respiration rate compared to 8C throughout the storage period. Possibly, metabolism was accelerated to maintain cellular integrity 5. These results are in agreement with Sampaio et al. 12 that senescence occurred slowly in red mombin fruits kept at 8C. The respiratory rate increased during storade at 25C with a rate of approximately 90 ml CO2kg-1 h-1 at the end of the experiment. This may be related to fruit respiration and the incidence of microorganisms on the last day evaluation. From the fourth day of storage firmness of the fruit was reduced regardless of storage temperature (Table 1). However, fruit stored at 25C had lower firmness and differed significantly in the last day of analysis. Increasing temperature is associated with increased enzymes, such as cellulase and polygalacturonase, associated with the degradation of carbohydrates leading to fruit softening 5. There was no significant difference in the titratable acidity between treatments (Table 1). However, there were differences between T1 and T2, with slight increase during storage period until the fourth day of analysis, followed by reduction to the last day. The increase after several days of storage is due to the synthesis of organics acids after harvest. However, the decrease of organic acids over Table 1. Means of titratable acidity (g/100 g), soluble solids ( Brix), firmness time is a normal process, since these are (gf) and ascorbic acid (mg/100 ml) in red mombin fruits stored under different rapidly consumed as substrate in the temperatures for 8 days. respiratory process. The low temperature may Storage time (days) be also responsible for the slow reduction of Parameters Treatments 0 2 4 6 8 these compounds. Martins et al. 9 also T1 (4C) 1.85 ABa 1.88 ABa 2.01 Aa 1.86 ABa 1.73 Ba reported a reduction of acidity in red mombin Titratable acidity T2 (8C) 1.85 ABa 1.94 Aa 1.98 Aa 1.86 ABa 1.71 Ba T3 (25C) 1.85 Aa 1.94 Aa 1.85 Aa 1.92 Aa 1.83 Aa fruit after 5 days of storage at temperature T1 (4C) 14.7 Aa 15.0 Ab 16.0 Aa 16.3 Aa 16.7 Aa below 8C. Soluble solids T2 (8C) 14.7 Ba 15.1 ABb 15.7 ABa 17.0 Aa 16.0 ABa The organic acids content was not T3 (25C) 14.7 Ba 17.0 Aa 15.3 ABa 16.3 ABa 12.3 Cb decreased at 25C as expected, despite the T1 (4C) 50.0 Aa 42.2 Aa 24.7 Bab 21.2 Ba 22.8 Ba high respiratory activity. Sampaio et al. 12 also Firmness T2 (8C) 50.0 Aa 42.3A a 31.1 Ba 22.1 Ba 19.4 Ba found maintenance of acidity in red mombin T3 (25C) 50.0 Aa 40.4 Aa 17.9 Bb 17.5 Ba 11.9 Bb T1 (4C) 40.4 Aa 35.9 Aa 40.4 Aa 35.7 Aa 35.3 Aa fruits of different maturation stages stored at Ascorbic acid T2 (8C) 40.4 Aa 38.9 Aa 36.1 Aa 34.4 Aa 35.7 Aa 282C. The maintenance of acidity, despite T3 (25C) 40.4 Aa 39.9 Aa 29.2 Bb 25.5 Bb 24.5 Bb the consumption of organic acids in the
Means followed by same letters in the vertical (lower case) and horizontal (upper case) do not differ by Tukeys test at 5% probability.

respiratory process, may be associated with the rapid decay of fruit due to the microorganism incidence that may have led to fermentation and hence acids formation by sugar consumption. This is evidenced by the decrease of soluble solids observed in the same treatment (Table 1). There was a tendency to increase the soluble solids in fruits stored at 4C and 8C. The reduction in SS observed at 8C on the eighth day can be associated with the start of sugar consumption in the respiratory process. The accelerated ripening brought about by higher storage temperature is clearly observed at 25C, where the fruit reached a high soluble solid concentration on the second day of storage. The values of SS in fruits stored at 4C and 8C were the result of respiration inhibition in response to low temperature (Fig. 1). The SS value for this experiment ranged from 14.7to 17.0 Brix during storage. The sharp reduction to 12.3 Brix in fruits stored at 25C should not be dismissed as normal physiological process of ripening, but attributed to the microorganisms growth, as previously. Sampaio et al. 11 observed an increase of 7.7 Brix to 15.7 Brix, and this difference is probably due to maturity stage when acquired. There was no reduction in ascorbic acid content in fruits at low temperature from first to last day of storage (Table 1). This result showed the importance of storage temperature not just in sensory quality but also nutritional quality. Storage at 25C had a negative influence on ascorbic acid content, promoting the degradation, the contents differed significantly from the fourth day of evaluation. Ascorbic acid is an easily degradable vitamin, and high temperature is a factor that most influences the loss of this compound. At 25C the ascorbic acid content was reduced from 40.4 to 24.5 mg/100 ml during the storage period, a decrease was approximately 40%. However, it is important to emphasize the nutritional potential of red mombin fruit for this vitamin, the result is close to the value of 62.5 mg/100 ml in Pra, the most consumed orange in Brazil6. The fruit color was influenced by temperature storage, where 25C appeared dark from the sixth day with lower values of L* parameter, differentiating itself from other treatments on this day evaluation. This temperature is close to ideal for activity of polyphenol oxidase, an enzyme responsible for browning. The browning from the last day at 4C would be a probable cold damage (Table 2). At the same species, Martins et al. 9 observed cold

Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.9 (3&4), July-October 2011

CO2 (ml kg-1 h-1)

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Table 2. Means of color parameters of the system CIELAB (L*) and Hue values in red mombin fruits stored at different temperatures for 8 days.
Color parameters Treatments T1 (4C) L* T2 (8C) T3 (25C) T1 (4C) Hue T2 (8C) T3 (25C) 0 57.65 Aba 57.65 Aa 57.65 Aa 68.29 ABa 68.29 Aa 68.29 Aa Storage time (days) 2 4 6 54.96 BCa 62.92 Aa 56.68 BCa 57.97 Aa 60.48 Aa 57.22 Aa 55.74 Aa 57.10 Ab 45.35 Bb 70.78 ABa 76.84 Aa 72.87 ABa 68.30 Aa 74.18 Aa 76.00 Aa 64.52 Aa 67.03 Aa 61.47 Ab 8 51.41 Cab 55.98 Aa 47.69 Bb 65.47 Bb 73.18 Aa 66.08 Ab

L* (0: black - 100: White) and Hue angle (0- red; 90- yellow; 180- green and 270- blue). Means followed by same letters in the vertical (lower case) and horizontal (upper case) do not differ by Tukey test at 5% probability.

damage at 5C. The cold storage symptoms of red mombin fruit are the formation of small dark spots, as observed on color analysis. Fruit stored at 8C did not differ significantly between days of analysis, the value of L* parameter was higher than in the other treatments and there was no browning until the last day. The Hue angle was between 0 and 90, thus between the color red and yellow, respectively. Therefore, the closer the value to 0 is the more advanced stage of ripening in fruits stored at 25C (Table 2). The reddish color is probably due to the chlorophyll degradation, thus giving rise the other pigments already synthesized. The maintenance of yellow color was observed in fruits stored at 8C, ideal temperature for ripening inhibition. According to Martins et al. 9, the limit temperature for storing red mombin fruit without chilling is 9.5C, but in this experiment the temperature of 8C was enough to hold the fruit with no change in quality. Conclusions The temperature of 8C is ideal for storing red mombin fruits, these can be stored under home refrigeration without changes in postharvest quality. References
1

10

Orwa, C., Mutua, A., Kindt, R., Jamnadass, R. and Simons, A. 2009.Agroforestree Database: A Tree Reference and Selection Guide version 4.0. 2009. Disponvel em: http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ af/treedb/. 11 Sampaio, S. A., Bora, P. S., Holschuh, H.J. and de Melo Silva, S. 2007. Postharvest respiratory activity and changes in some chemical constituents during maturation of yellow mombin (Spondias mombin) fruit. Cincia e Tecnologia de Alimentos 27(3):511-515. 12 Sampaio, S. A., Bora, P. S. and Holschuh, H. J. 2008. Postharvest respiration and maturation of some lesser-known exotic fruits from Brazil ciriguela (Spondias purpurea L.). Ceres 55(2):141-145. 13 Teixeira, D. M. A., Braga, R. C., Horta, A. C. G., Moreira, R. A., de Brito, A.C.F., Maciel, J.S., Feitosa, J.P.A. and de Paula, R.C.M. 2007. Spondias purpurea exudate polysaccharide as affinity matrix for the isolation of a galactose-binding-lectin. Carbohydrate Polymers 70:369377. 14 Tibola, I. S., Lucchetta, L., Zanuzo, M. R., Ferri, V.C., Rombaldi, C. V. and Silva, P.R. 2005. Inibio da ao do etileno na conservao de caquis (Diospyrus kaki L.). Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura 27(1):3639.

Albuquerque, E. M. B., Oliveira, E. N. A., Santos, D. C. et al. 2010. Comportamento dos acares redutores em manga in natura armazenada em atmosfera modificada. Tecnologia e Cincia Agropecuria 4(3):27-31. 2 Brasil Ministrio da Sade 2008. Mtodos fsico-qumicos para anlise de alimentos. Agncia Nacional de Vigilncia Sanitria, Braslia, 1020 p. 3 Brasil Ministrio da Agricultura 2007. Mtodo de Tillmans modificado. Pecuria e Abastecimento. Braslia. Acesso em: 20 nov. 2007. Disponvel em: http://www.agricultura.gov.br 4 Bleinroth, E. W., Zuchini, A. G. and Pompeo, R. M. 1976. Determinao das caractersticas e mecnicas de variedades de abacate e sua conservao pelo frio. Coletnea ITAL 7:29-81. 5 Chitarra, M. I. F. and Chitarra, A. B. 2005. Ps-colheita de frutos e hortalias: Fisiologia e manuseio. 2nd edn. UFLA, Lavras, 785 p. 6 Couto, M. A. L. and Canniatti-Brazaca, S. G. 2010. Quantificao de vitamina C e capacidade antioxidante de variedades ctricas. Cincia e Tecnologia Alimentos Campinas 30(1):15-19. 7 Durigan, M. F. B., Mattiuz, B. and Durigan, J. F. 2005. Injrias mecnicas na qualidade ps-colheita de lima cida Tahiti armazenada sob condio ambiente. Revista Brasileira Fruticultura 27(3):369-372. 8 Lorenzi, H. 2006. Frutas brasileiras e exticas cultivadas. Instituto Plantarum de Estudos da Flora, So Paulo, 627 p. 9 Martins, L. P., Silva, S.M., Alves, R.E. and Filgueiras, H.A.C. 2003. Fisiologia do dano pelo frio em ciriguela (Spondias purpurea L.). Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura 25(1):23-26. 134 Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.9 (3&4), July-October 2011