Unravelling factors associated with ‘blackspot’ disorder in stored Hass avocado (Persea americana Mill) fruit

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to understand the involvement of agro-climatic conditions, external quality and defence system of Hass avocado fruits on blackspot disorder development after prolonged cold storage. The results prompt us to conclude that the weight of the fruits at harvest and weight loss during the storage period is involved in blackspot disorder development. Large incidence of lenticelosis in fruits and lower activity of SOD, CAT, POD, PAL, phenolics and epicatechin levels may contribute to blackspot spot development during cold storage. Non-supervised techniques pointed for epicatechin and derivatives, temperature, relative humidity and enzymes as important specific variables that affect blackspot disorder while predictive models showed positive correlation with minimum temperature (below 5°C) and maximum temperature and relative humidity displayed negative association with blackspot.

KEYWORDS:

• External parameters
• quality
• epidermis
• enzymes
• defence system
• blackspot

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Comité de Paltas Chile and associated producers and exporters (Santa Cruz, El Parque, Jorge Schmidt, Baika, Subsole). The authors also acknowledge Sociedad Gardiazabal y Mena Ltda and Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) La Platina. The first author (Virgílio Uarrota) and corresponding author (Romina Pedreschi) thank CONICYT-FONDECYT (Chile), projects 3190055 and 1180303 for sponsorship and Vicerrectoria de Investigación y Estudios avanzados (VRIEA) of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Valparaiso for all research facilities provided.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Comité de Paltas Chile and associated producers and exporters (Santa Cruz, El Parque, Jorge Schmidt, Baika, Subsole) [NA].