Effect of transport temperature on persimmon fruit quality

Abstract

Persimmon fruit often shows quality loss and internal disorders when it arrives at overseas markets. This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of temperature during the sea freight transport in refrigerated containers and later transport in refrigerated trailers on the quality of the persimmon fruit. 'Triumph' persimmon fruits harvested at mid- and final season and fruit stored at 1°C for 1 month were submitted to sea freight transport simulation during 25 days at 1 or 3°C followed by a later transport in trailer at 1, 3 or 9°C. Afterwards, all fruits were transferred at 20°C for 5 days simulating shelf-life. Mid-season fruit shipped in container at 1°C and highway-transported in trailer at 1 or 3°C showed excellent quality without internal disorders; transport at 9°C caused more loss of quality. Fruit harvested at the end of the season, with less firmness, showed significant softening and severe incidence of flesh gelling in different conditions of transportation. Fruit previously cold-stored for 30 days also exhibited important firmness loss after being transported in container; after shelf-life period only the fruit sent in container at 1°C and later transported at 1 or 3°C in trailer did not show symptoms of flesh gelling. The results obtained indicate that temperature of container and trailer during transport is critical in order to deliver persimmon fruit with high quality. Also the physiological stage of the fruit is critical at the moment of sending it to long-distance shipment for reaching to final consumers with high quality.