Potential of fruit pads to control decay in plums

The shelf life of plum fruit (Prunus domestica) is limited due to among other factors fungal fruit decay. Absorbent pads (?Fruit pads?) are commercially used today for e.g. raspberries in order to absorb juice from the berries and condense water and hence reduce the growth of fungi. The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of different types of absorbent pads on weight loss and decay for plum fruit under realistic storage conditions. Plum fruit of the cultivars ?Reeves? and ?Jubileum? delivered at a commercial packing house were packed in trays on a flow packaging machine with three different types of absorbent pads (standard Fruit pad and two humidity control pads with different active compounds; denoted active pad 1 and 2) placed at the bottom of the trays. Trays without pads were controls. After packaging plums were stored at 3?C or 6?C for 7 days and thereafter 2 days at 20?C. Fruit quality, weight loss and amount of fungal fruit decay and other decays were recorded at the end of the storage period. The different pads had no significant effects on ripeness state measured by DA-meter and fruit firmness measured at end of storage. The pads had significantly different effect on weight loss, and for ?Jubileum? the weight loss was 1.5% for the active pad 1, 2.5% for the active pad 2 and below 1% for the standard pad and the control. Significant effects were found for cultivar and absorbent pads on the total amount of decayed fruits. ?Jubileum? was more vulnerable to decay than ?Reeves?, and the active pad 2 had the lowest number of decayed ?Jubileum? fruits. More work and a cost-benefit analysis should be performed before absorbent pads are recommended for plum fruit. ? Original title, complete list of authors, and sourcesPlum fruit packed in flow packs with absorbent pads and stored at different temperaturesH. Larsen, J. Borve, I. Mage, E.VangdalNofima-Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research, As, Norway Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research, Ullensvang, NorwayV Postharvest Unlimited, ISHS International Conference, 10-13 June 2014, Cyprus, http://web.cut.ac.cy/postharvest/ The picture, kindly sent by Hanne Larsen, is from?McAirlaid?s Vliesestoffe GmbH (Germany). ? Key WordsPoscosecha??????????? postcosecha??????????? postharvest??? na-oes??????????? ?? ??? ??????????? ??????????? ??????????? post-r?colte???? ?? ?????????? ??????????? na-oogst?? post-raccolta??????????? Obr?bka po?? p?s-colheita??????????? ????????????????????????? hasat sonras???????????? ??????????? Ernte??????????? ????????????????????????? ???? ?????????????????????? postcollita??????????? poskliz?ov頠? ????????????? ?? ???????? ??????????? nakon branja??????????? pozberov頠??? ??????????? obdelovanje zemlje po??????? post-colleita??????????? ????? ???????????????? pascapanen??? ?il?onn postharvest??????????? ??????????????? p?c ra?as??????????? derliaus apdirbimas po??????? lepas tuai???? ?? ?? ????????????????? post-recoltare??????????? ?????? ???????????????? ??????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? sau thu ho?ch??????????? ?????????????????????????? zangemva kwenkathi yokuvuna Ciruela?????????? ??????????? plum??????????? pruim??????????? ???????????????? ???????????? pruno??????????? prune??????????? ???????????? ?? ???????? ??????????? prugna??????????? ?liwka??????????? ameixa??????????? ???????????????? erik??????????? ??????????? ?? Pflaume????????? ??????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ??????????????????????? ??????????? ?