The aim of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of precooling, calcium and fungicide postharvest treatments on quality of 'Golden Delicious ' and 'Fuji' apples during storage in air and controlled atmosphere conditions. The 18 treatments were combinations of three levels of precooling (without precooling, with precooling until 10°C and with precooling down to 4.5°C); two levels of calcium application (without and with calcium) and three levels of fungicide application (without fungicide, fungicide during precooling and fungicide after precooling). Calcium source was CaCl2 (2%) and fungicide used was Iprodione (150g.i.a./100 l.). Temperature of fruits storage in air was 1°C. 'Golden Delicious' fruits were stored in controlled atmosphere with 4% of CO2 and 1.5% of O2 concentrations and temperature was kept at 1°C. 'Fuji' fruits were stored in Controlled Atmosphere with 0.4% of CO2, and 2.5% of O2 concentrations and temperature was kept at 2°C. 'Golden Delicious' and 'Fuji' apples in cold storage were evaluated after five and six months, respectively. In controlled atmosphere the evaluations was done after eight months of storage. The results showed that the two forms of precooling reduced weight loss and schriveling of apples. Precooling with temperature lower than 4.5°C provided higher rol anel fruit splitting incidences than the precooling down to 10°C. CaCl2 reduced the rot of fruits that had be wouded. The best results on rots control was obtained with fungicide application during precooling, however the use of fungicide during precooling caused fruit schriveling, mainly in long precooling down to 4.5°C.
apple; precooling; storage; quality
