The woolly breakdown is one of the major disorders during cold storage of "Chiripá" peaches. In the present work the effects of controlled atmosphere (CA) on peaches storability were studied, particularly in the control of woolliness. The peaches were harvested with 50N of pulp firmness (PF), 7cmo<IMG SRC="http:/img/fbpe/cr/v32n1/a08img01.gif"> .L-1of total titratable acidity (TTA), 13,8ºBrix of total soluble solids (TSS) and green-white ground color. Peaches were stored in two systems: 1) refrigerated air storage (RA) at 0ºC± 0,5ºC and 90± 5% of relative humidity (RU) or 2) controlled atmosphere (CA) at 0ºC± 0,5ºC, 95± 2% of RU, 1,5KPa of O2 and 5kPa de CO2. At the installation of the experiment, 30 days after and 45 days after, samples were collected to evaluate PF, TTA, TSS, woolly breakdown, browning and for organoleptic analysis. These evaluations were done 24 and 72 hours after sampling. The results showed that CA is capable of reducing efficiently the woolliness and maintaining fruit quality for 45 days of storage. In RA this period was less than 30 days with significative losses in the quality.
ripening; woolliness
