The experiment was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effect of the temperature and of different controlled atmosphere (CA) storage regimes on the fruit qualities, and occurrence of physiological disorders of 'Braeburn' apples. The experimental design was the completely randomized with two replication. Fruits were stored in cold storage at 0 and 1ºC and in the following CA conditions: at temperature of 1ºC with 1,5kPaO2/4,0KkPaCO2, 1,5kPaO2/3,0kPaCO2, 1,0kPaO2/ 1,0kPaCO2, 1,0kPaO2/2,0kPaCO2, 1,0kPaO2/3,0kPaCO2 and at temperature of 0ºC with 1,0kPaO2/3,0kPaCO2. The relative humidity was maintained around 96%. The evaluation was done after eight months of storage, at the opening of the chambers and after seven days shelf life (31ºC). At chambers openning, there was no significant difference in the flesh firmness, titratable acidity and total soluble solids (TSS) among the CA conditions. However, after seven days in shelf life, the treatment with 1,0kPaO2/3,0kPaCO2 in the temperature of 0ºC maintained higher flesh firmness, titratable acidity and TSS, and did not exhibiting flesh breakdown. The CA storage, with 4,0kPa CO2 and cold storage caused flesh breakdown. Already the cork breakdown, was induced by 3,0 and 4,0kPa of CO2 associated with 1,5kPa of O2. The occurrence of rot was significantly higher in cold storage than in CA and more frequent al low CO2 (1kPa). The incidence of mealiness and scald could not be associated with any storage condition. Cold storage fruits presented unsatisfactory quality for marketing and consumption after 8 months of storage.
storage; apples; controlled atmosphere; quality
