IMPORTANT ENVIRONMENTAL

FACTORS AFFECTING PRODUCE

QUALITY: OTHER THAN
TEMPERATURE
Module 3-2 1
 CONTENTS

1. Environmental factors affecting produce quality: Introduction

2. Temperature
3. Relative humidity
4. Gas concentrations
5. Shock and vibrations
6. Other factors

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 HUMIDITY(1)
Lower storage temperatures offer the additional advantage of greatly reduced water loss
from the produce with reduced evapotranspiration. High relative humidity (RH) slows down
water loss and enhances storage life of the produce. Stores should ideally be maintained
at the highest relative humidity that the crop can tolerate.
Humidifiers of various types are generally available, and although 100 % RH would totally
prevent water loss, this can rarely be maintained because:
• Disease organisms often develop rapidly at 100 % RH;
• Condensation, giving rise to increased spoilage can easily be caused by slight
temperature fluctuations at or near 100% RH;
• Ventilation with unsaturated air is often necessary to remove heat and volatile gases
such as ethylene.
(Harris, 1988).

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 HUMIDITY (2)
The RH of the surrounding air is also an important factor that needs to be controlled during storage of
fruits and vegetables. Humidity and temperature together are particularly critical in minimizing the
difference in water vapor pressure between the produce and the environment. The rate of fruit or
vegetable evapotranspiration, and thus loss of moisture, can be reduced by: raising the RH; by
lowering the air temperature; by minimizing the difference between the air and fruit temperatures;
reducing air movement; and by protective packaging (Nunes, 2008a).
While weight loss of grapefruits stored at 30 % RH was about 0.4–0.5 % per day, in fruit
stored at 90 % RH the rate of weight loss was reduced to 0.3 % per day; with weight loss
of fruit stored at low RH being two times greater than that of fruit stored at 90 % RH
(Alférez and Burns, 2004).

The percentage of strawberries affected by decay significantly increased as storage

temperature and RH increased. That is, after 4 days, 3.9, 9.3 and 11.7 %, of the fruit
stored at 10 °C and 75, 85 or 95 % RH, respectively, were affected by decay, whereas the
percentage of decay increased to 59.2 % when strawberries were held at 20 °C and 75 %
RH, and 90 % of the fruit were affected by decay when held at 20 °C and 85 or 90 % RH
(Shin et al., 2007).

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 HUMIDITY (3)
Softening, discoloration, increased flabbiness, loss of turgidity, wilting and shriveling, and dryness are
visual symptoms generally associated with loss of moisture (Nunes and Emond, 2007). Because a
decrease in firmness is strongly related to increased weight loss, raising humidity levels during
postharvest handling helps to reduce fruit and vegetable desiccation and excessive softening
(Nunes, 2008a).

High RH during storage of ‘Late Lanes’ oranges not only reduced fruit moisture loss and
maintained fruit firmness, but also reduced CI symptoms (Henriod et al., 2005).

Reduced humidity during storage not only results in loss of moisture and orange
dehydration, but may also lead to peel damage. In fact, rind breakdown was observed in
‘Navelina’ and ‘Navelate’ oranges with a weight loss higher than 2 % that were transferred
from low (30–45 %) to high humidity (90–95 %) storage (Alférez et al., 2003).

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 HUMIDITY (4)
It is hard to separate the effects of high RH alone from the effects of the atmosphere composition on
the quality of the produce inside the package. On the other hand, when the permeability of the film is
high to CO2 and O2 but low to water vapor then the effect of humidity alone can be evaluated (Nunes,
2008a).
After 20 days of storage at 1 °C, a sharp decrease in chlorophyll, total phenolic and AsA
contents was observed during storage of non-packed broccoli, whereas a smaller
decrease was observed in these same compounds in broccoli packed in a macro-
perforated film with no atmosphere modification (Serrano et al., 2006).

In strawberry fruit stored at 0.5, 10 or 20 °C and 75, 85 or 95 % RH, flavonoid and total
phenolic contents also decreased with decreasing RH (from 95 to 75 %), regardless of the
storage temperature (Shin et al., 2007).

Anthocyanin and phenolic content of litchi stored at 20 °C and 50, 70, 80 or 90 % RH

significantly decreased as the RH decreased. In addition, fruit pericarp browning occurred
faster when fruit where stored at 50 % RH than at 90 % RH; severe browning developed
after 3 days at 50 % RH and after 10 days at 90 % RH (Kaewchana et al., 2006).

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 GAS CONCENTRATIONS (1)
The concentrations of gases used in CA or MAP depend on the species, origin, its
maturity or ripeness stage, the storage duration, temperature, RH and the tolerance of
the fruit or vegetable to high levels of CO2 or low levels of O2. Furthermore, limits of
tolerance can be different at temperatures above or below those temperatures
recommended for each commodity. Overall, an ideal controlled or modified atmosphere
treatment is one that will prevent or delay ripening and senescence of a specific fruit or
vegetable without causing any detrimental effect to their quality after removal from
modified atmosphere conditions to normal air.
(Nunes, 2008a)

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 GAS CONCENTRATIONS (2)
Low O2 or high CO2 reduce ethylene synthesis and sensitivity of the produce to ethylene,
consequently delaying ripening, as well as retarding color deterioration by reducing
chlorophyll, anthocyanins and carotenoids losses, and by preventing oxidative browning.
Textural changes such as flesh softening or toughening are also reduced when CO2 and
O2 are maintained within the tolerance limits of the produce, yet softening may be
accelerated if CO2 or O2 are outside the tolerance limits. Finally, elevated CO2 controls
sporulation or growth of numerous fungal decay organisms.
(Nunes, 2008a)

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 GAS CONCENTRATIONS (3)
A controlled atmosphere with reduced O2 and/or elevated CO2 reduces respiration
(Kasmire et al., 1974; Lebermann et al., 1968), ethylene production (Wang, 1979),
weight loss (Anelli et al., 1984; Makhlouf et al., 1989a), and decay (Lipton and
Harris, 1974; Makhlouf et al., 1989a) and retards yellowing (Kasmire et al., 1974;
Lebermann et al., 1968; Lipton and Harris, 1974; Wang, 1979; Makblouf et al.,
1989a) of broccoli heads. Based on these results, lowering O2 to 1 % to 2 %
and/or increasing CO2 to 5 % to 10 % is recommended for storing broccoli heads
to maintain quality at 0 to 5 ˚C (Saltveit, 1993). With the increasing demand for
lightly processed vegetables, controlled or modified atmosphere for broccoli florets
also has been researched over the past few years (Ballantine et al., 1988; Barth et
al., 1993; Bastrash et al., 1993; Berrang et al., 1990). However, these studies were
conducted only at a single temperature, which differed among the studies.

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 SHOCKS AND VIBRATION
Shock and Vibration during transport injures fruit and vegetables, especially fruit
with a soft pericarp. Mechanical damage in truck transport, including abrasions
and bruises, reduces quality to a level where truck transport may become
problematic. Losses in fresh fruit rose by 17 % and in vegetables 10 % during
transport and distribution in 2006 in Japan (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and
Fisheries, 2008).

Singh and Xu (1993) reported that as many as 80 % of apples can be

damaged during simulated transportation by truck, depending on the type
of truck, package and position of the container along the column.

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 OTHER FACTORS

Other factors that might be affecting the fresh produce quality are:
• Packaging,
• Ethylene exposure,
• Cushioning,
• Preharvest treatment,
• Cultivar,
• etc.

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THANK YOU

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