Optimal Handling and Postharvest Strategies to Reduce Losses of ‘Cuello Dama Negro’ Dark Figs (Ficus Carica L.)

Figures & data

Figure 1. Atmosphere composition (O₂ and CO_2; kPa) inside the package of LifePack and Xtend®modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technologies, determined immediately after 7, 14 and 21d of cold storage at 0°C and 95% RH

Table 1. Mean values of quality parameters and decay of ‘Cuello Dama Negro’ fresh fig measured at harvest, and after 1 or 3 days of shelf life at 20ºC

Days of Shelf life	SSC (ºBrix)	TA (g citric ac/100 g)	Decay (%)	Side Cracking (%)	Ostiole cracking (%)	Color coverage (%)	Firmness (N)	Chewiness (N.seg)
0	20.4±1.7	0.4±0.1	0.0±0.0	46.7±11.5	10.0±0.0	86.7±5.8	5.9±2.1	4.1±1.3
1	19.8±1.7	0.4±0.0	0.0±0.0	50.0±0.0	10.0±0.0	95.0±0.0	4.5±1.4	3.1±0.9
3	21.2±0.8	0.4±0.0	63.3±5.8	70.0±10.0	16.7±11.5	100.0±0.0	4.1±1.1	2.8±0.7

Table 2. Effect of treatments on the percentage of rotten fruit of ‘Cuello Dama Negro’ fresh fig, measured after 7 and 14 d of cold storage at 0°C plus 1, 2, and/or 3 d of shelf life at 20°C, and immediately after 21 d of cold storage at 0°C

	Treatment	7d+1d		7d+2d		7d+3d		14d+1d		14d+2d		21d
	0ºC, 95% HR	23,3	abc	60,0	ab	90,0	ab	63,3	b	76,7	b	63,3	b
	4ºC, 90-95% HR	43,3	a	53,3	ab	93,3	ab
	4ºC, 75-80% HR	33,3	ab	66,7	a	96,7	a
	Delayed cooling	16,7	bc	60,0	ab	80,0	ab	73,3	ab	96,7	a	70,0	ab
	Intermittent cooling	3,3	c	56,7	ab	73,3	b	86,7	a	93,3	ab	73,3	ab
	MAP: Xtend®	10,0	bc	20,0	c	86,7	ab	23,3	c	96,7	a	6,7	d
	MAP: LifePack	23,3	abc	20,0	c	90,0	ab	33,3	c	93,3	ab	36,7	c
	1-MCP	6,7	c	43,3	b	90,0	ab	90,0	a	93,3	ab	86,7	a
	SO2	3,3	c	46,7	b	96,7	a	76,7	ab	93,3	ab	53,3	bc

For each column, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05, according to Tukey´s test.

Table 3. Effect of treatments on the percentage of side cracking, ostiole cracking, and color coverage of ‘Cuello Dama Negro’ fresh figs, determined after 7 and 14 d of cold storage at 0°C plus 1 or 2 d of shelf life at 20°C, and immediately after 21 d of cold storage at 0°C

% Side Cracking			7d+1d		7d+2d		14d+1d		14d+2d		21d
		0ºC, 95% HR	50,0	ab	95,0	a	43,3	c	43,3	abc	16,7	cd
		4ºC, 90-95% HR	30,0	b	53,3	b
		4ºC, 75-80% HR	43,3	ab	43,3	b
		Delayed cooling	50,0	ab	53,3	b	56,7	bc	63,3	a	13,3	d
		Intermittent cooling	56,7	ab	43,3	b	23,3	d	16,7	c	23,3	cd
		MAP: Xtend®	50,0	ab	50,0	b	53,3	bc	53,3	ab	13,3	d
		MAP: LifePack	63,3	a	26,7	b	63,3	ab	50,0	ab	36,7	bc
		1-MCP	33,3	ab	33,3	b	80,0	a	50,0	ab	63,3	a
		SO2	50,0	ab	86,7	a	80,0	a	33,3	bc	50,0	ab
% Ostiole Cracking
	0ºC, 95% HR		3,3	a	16,7	a	23,3	ab	6,7	a	16,7	a
	4ºC, 90-95% HR		13,3	a	20,0	a
	4ºC, 75-80% HR		0,0	a	13,3	a
	Delayed cooling		0,0	a	13,3	a	10,0	b	20,0	a	13,3	a
	Intermittent cooling		0,0	a	13,3	a	33,3	a	20,0	a	10,0	a
	MAP: Xtend®		0,0	a	16,7	a	23,3	ab	6,7	a	13,3	a
	MAP: LifePack		13,3	a	16,7	a	13,3	b	0,0	a	13,3	a
	1-MCP		3,3	a	16,7	a	13,3	b	20,0	a	23,3	a
	SO2		0,0	a	10,0	a	13,3	b	20,0	a	16,7	a
% Color coverage
	0ºC, 95% HR		96,7	a	100,0	a	98,3	a	96,7	a	96,67	a
	4ºC, 90-95% HR		95,0	a	100,0	a
	4ºC, 75-80% HR		95,0	a	100,0	a
	Delayed cooling		95,0	a	100,0	a	98,3	a	100,0	a	98,33	a
	Intermittent cooling		95,0	a	95,0	ab	93,3	a	100,0	a	100	a
	MAP: Xtend®		93,3	a	100,0	a	96,7	a	96,7	a	86,67	b
	MAP: LifePack		91,7	a	100,0	a	93,3	a	86,7	a	95	a
	1-MCP		95,0	a	100,0	a	93,3	a	93,3	a	100	a
	SO2		91,7	a	88,3	b	91,7	a	46,7	b	81,67	b

For each column, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05, according to Tukey´s test.

Table 4. Effect of treatments on soluble solids content (SSC, ºBrix) and titratable acidity (TA, g/100 g) of ‘Cuello Dama Negro’ fresh figs, determined after 7 and 14 d of cold storage at 0°C plus 1d of shelf life at 20°C, and immediately after 21d of cold storage at 0°C

SSC (%)		7d+1d		14d+1d		21d
	0ºC, 95% HR	21,4	ab	20,5	b	21,7	abc
	4ºC, 90-95% HR	22,0	ab
	4ºC, 75-80% HR	22,0	ab
	Delayed cooling	23,3	a	18,3	cd	23,3	a
	Intermittent cooling	22,8	a	16,8	d	22,9	ab
	MAP: Xtend®	21,5	ab	20,8	b	19,9	c
	MAP: LifePack	19,9	b	23,2	a	20,1	c
	1-MCP	22,2	ab	20,3	b	22,3	ab
	SO2	21,4	ab	20,0	bc	21,1	bc
TA (g citric ac/100 g)
	0ºC, 95% HR	0,58	a	0,32	a	0,32	bc
	4ºC, 90-95% HR	0,37	b
	4ºC, 75-80% HR	0,28	bc
	Delayed cooling	0,32	bc	0,34	a	0,30	c
	Intermittent cooling	0,32	bc	0,38	a	0,36	ab
	MAP: Xtend®	0,35	b	0,32	a	0,38	a
	MAP: LifePack	0,35	b	0,34	a	0,26	c
	1-MCP	0,25	c	0,38	a	0,30	bc
	SO2	0,35	b	0,38	a	0,29	c

For each column, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05, according to Tukey´s test.

Table 5. Effect of treatments on the hardness (N) and the fracturability (N.seg) of ‘Cuello Dama Negro’ fresh fig, determined after 7 and 14 d of cold storage at 0°C plus 1 and 2 d of shelf life at 20ºC

Storage + Retail simulation
Firmness (N)		7d+1d		7d+2d		14d+1d
	0ºC, 95% HR	3,4	ab	3,2	a	3,2	b
	4ºC, 90-95% HR	4,1	ab	3,6	a	-
	4ºC, 75-80% HR	4,0	ab	3,8	a	-
	Delayed cooling	3,3	ab	2,7	a	3,1	b
	Intermittent cooling	3,1	ab	2,8	a	4,1	ab
	MAP: Xtend®	3,6	ab	3,4	a	4,6	a
	MAP: LifePack	3,0	b	3,0	a	3,4	ab
	1-MCP	4,5	a	3,5	a	3,2	b
	SO2	3,5	ab	3,2	a	3,9	b
Chewiness (N.seg)
	0ºC, 95% HR	2,5	ab	2,4	ab	2,1	c
	4ºC, 90-95% HR	3,0	ab	2,5	ab	-
	4ºC, 75-80% HR	3,0	ab	2,6	ab	-
	Delayed cooling	2,6	ab	2,2	ab	2,3	bc
	Intermittent cooling	2,3	b	2,0	b	2,9	ab
	MAP: Xtend®	2,8	ab	2,6	a	3,3	a
	MAP: LifePack	2,4	b	2,5	ab	2,7	abc
	1-MCP	3,3	a	2,4	ab	2,4	bc
	SO2	2,8	ab	2,4	ab	2,9	ab

For each column, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05, according to Tukey´s test.

Table 6. Effect of treatments on the percentage of weight loss of ´Cuello Dama Negro´ fresh fig determined immediately after 7, 14 and 21d of cold storage at 0°C

Treatment	7d		14d		21d
0ºC, 95% HR	3,5	bc	5,0	d	7,2	b
4ºC, 90-95% HR	3,5	bc
4ºC, 75-80% HR	3,8	ab
Delayed cooling	2,8	bc	5,4	cd	7,3	b
Intermittent cooling	6,8	a	7,5	ab	10,3	a
MAP: Xtend®	2,5	c	5,8	bcd	7,5	b
MAP: LifePack	3,5	bc	7,3	abc	8,2	b
1-MCP	5,0	bc	8,3	a	10,0	a
SO2	2,8	bc	7,0	abc	8,9	ab

For each column, means followed by the same letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05, according to Tukey´s test.

Figure 2. (A) Ethylene production (µL Kg⁻¹ h⁻¹) in fruit stored at 20ºC (retail conditions) immediately after harvest. (B) Effect of treatments on the ethylene production capacity (µL Kg⁻¹ h⁻¹) of ´Cuello Dama Negro´ fresh fig determined after 7, 14 and 21d of cold storage at 0°C plus 1d of shelf life at 20ºC