?Miraflores? peach has a potential for long distance transport under CA

The effect of controlled atmosphere (CA) on ?Miraflores? peaches was studied during a simulated long export period. Peaches were stored in two different CAs (2 kPa O2 + 15 kPa CO2 or 2 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2) or in air (21 kPa O2 + 0.03 kPa CO2) as control, up to 26 or 34 days at 2?C, followed by a shelf life period of 2 days at 15?C in air. There were not significant differences between CAs and control treatment in reducing weight loss (1 to 3%), maintaining the firmness (30-32 N after 26 or 34 days at 2?C and 25-30 N after 2 additional days at 15?C) and soluble solids content (12.4-13.8 ?Brix). However, both CAs reduced the rate and level of decay (by 20% under 10 kPa CO2 and 40% under 15 kPa CO2), the incidence of chilling injury (only 20% under CAs, compared to 85% in air), and the development of color in pulp and skin, and helped in maintaining the sensory quality. However, the use of 15 kPa CO2 resulted in a slight off flavour that was not avoided during the additional shelf life of peaches. As main conclusion, it is noteworthy that the ?Miraflores? peach has a potential to be exported (until 34 days at 2?C followed by 2 days at 15?C) under a CA of 5 kPa O2 + 10 kPa CO2. Higher concentrations of CO2, such as using a 15 kPa, boost the lifetime reduced decay but provided a detectable strange taste.Full list of authors, original title and source:Controlled Atmosphere for the export of ?Miraflores? peachesE. Truque, E. Aguayo, F. Art?s-Hern?ndez, P. G?mez, F. Art?sISHS Acta Horticulturae 962: VII International Peach Symposiumhttp://www.actahort.org/books/962/962_79.htm ?? ?The picture is by viverosibanez.es