The experiment was carried out to establish storage conditions for ‘Valência’ orange, evaluating the effect of storage temperature, controlled atmosphere (CA) conditions and postharvest application of chemicals on the fruit quality and rot incidence. The treatments were: cold storage at 0.5°C; cold storage at 3°C; cold storage at 3°C and Iprodione treatment (0.15% deeping); cold storage at 3°C and detergent treatment (2% deeping); CA 3°C with Air and 5% of CO2; CA with 10% of O2 and 5% of CO2 at 3°C; and cold storage at 7°C. Relative humidity (RH) was maintained between 90 and 94%. The evaluations were preformed after 60 and 84 storage days. After 60 storage days there was no statistic difference among treatments on the titratable acidity and total soluble solids (TSS). At 3°C and 0.5°C there was a lower weight loss than at 7°C. After 84 storage days the fruits in cold storage at 7 and 0.5°C showed higher weight loss than at 3°C. The acidity and TSS were lowest for cold storage at 7°C, but there was no difference with 3°C. The rot incidence, in the second evaluation, Iprodione application and the detergent had no difference with the oranges without chemicals. In cold storage at 7°C there was higher rot incidence than at 3°C. At 0.5°C there was high rot incidence due to low temperature damage. At CA condition there was high rot incidence due to high CO2 and low O2 damage.
storage; rot; fungicid; orange
