Ozone, an appropriate and economical tool to maximize the quality of chestnut shelf life

Chestnuts are gluten?free, low?fat, cholesterol?free products. Postharvest decay reduces chestnut shelf life and can cause severe economic losses. In this study we investigated the effect of ozone (O3) gaseous treatment on chestnut rot caused by Gnomoniopsis castanea and the quality parameters of chestnuts. The results showed that ozone treatment (150?ppb during the day, and 300?ppb during the night) reduced the decay of chestnuts and had a fungistatic effect on isolates of G. castanea. The exposure of chestnuts to ozone did not alter weight losses, sugar content and titratable acidity. The concentration of total phenolics decreased during the storage period, both for treated and untreated nuts. However, after 150?days of treatment the polyphenol content of the chestnuts exposed to ozone was significantly higher than in control nuts. Our results suggested that ozone is an appropriate and economical tool to maximize the quality of chestnut shelf life, enabling it to be stored for long periods.?? 2019 Society of Chemical Industry SourceOzone gas as a storage treatment to control Gnomoniopsis castanea, preserving chestnut qualityVettraino, Anna Maria; Bianchini, Leonardo; Caradonna, Valentina; Forniti, Roberto; Goffi, Valentina; Zambelli, Marta; Testa, Antonino; Vinciguerra, Vittorio; Botondi, RinaldoJournal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Volume 99, Number 13, 1 October 2019, pp. 6060-6065(6)Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jsfa.9883https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsfa.9883 Picture - Picture 5 at?The infection process of chestnut rot, an important disease caused by Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi (Gnomoniaceae, Diaporthales) in Oceania and Europe