Postharvest 1-Butanol Treatment to ‘Midori’ Cabbage as a Regulator of Pigments Degradation, Color Changes and Overall Quality After Storage at Different Temperatures
摘要
The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of different 1-butanol vapor doses and its interaction with storage temperature on ‘Midori’ cabbage pigments, color changes and overall quality over two months of storage at 0.5 and 3 °C, plus 7 days shelf life at 20 °C. The cabbages were harvested and immediately treated with 1-butanol, as follows: (1) Control, chambers with samples were closed only; (2) 80 mg L−1 of 1-butanol; (3) 160 mg L−1 of 1-butanol; (4) 240 mg L−1 of 1-butanol; and (5) 320 mg L−1 of 1-butanol vapor. The cabbage heads were exposed to 1-butanol vapor during 48 h in 80 L hermetically sealed chambers. After treatment, cabbages were stored for two months at 0.5 and 3 °C. Subsequently, the heads were held for 7 days at 20 ºC, to simulate shelf life period, before pigments, color changes, and overall quality evaluations. The treatment with 1-butanol vapor resulted in little effect on quality at 0.5 °C. In contrast, at 3 °C, 1-butanol at 160 mg L−1 maintained overall quality during storage and after 7 days shelf life at 20 °C, preserving pigment, green color and overall quality. However, increasing the dose to 240 or 320 mg L−1 resulted in higher decay incidence and reduced quality. Conversely, without 1-butanol, storing at 0.5 °C preserved chlorophyll levels, green color, firmness, and minimized decay. So, it can be concluded that 160 mg L−1 1-butanol suppressed the pigment degradation and allows cabbage quality maintenance at a higher storage temperature (3 °C), being a promising technology to reduce losses of heads (decay and biochemical quality) at this storage temperature.