Fruits of soursop 'Morada' from plants of a commercial area, located in Limoeiro do Norte, Ceara State, Brazil, were harvested at the physiological maturity stage with the objective of evaluating the effect of postharvest application of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and wax on conservation during refrigerated storage. Fruits were stored for 0, 4, 8, 11, 13 and 15 days under 15.4±1.1ºC and 86.0±7.3% RH. Postharvest treatments were as follow: control, 200 nL L-1 of 1-MCP (SmartFresh™), Fruit wax® sprayed on fruits, and Fruit wax® sprayed on fruits followed by application of 200 nL L-1 of 1-MCP. The experimental design was completely randomized, with a 4x6 (postharvest treatment x storage time) factorial and four replicates. The following variables were evaluated: skin and pulp color according to luminosity (L), chromaticity (C) and color angle (Hº); mass loss; pH; titratable acidity (TA); total soluble solids (TSS); total soluble sugars (TS) and reducing sugars (RS). Wax and wax+1-MCP kept stabilized the L values for skin and pulp, until the 8th and the 4th day of storage, respectively. The increasing in TSS was temporarily delayed by postharvest treatments. The TA, pH, TS and RS were not influenced by wax and 1-MCP. The use of wax reduced the mass loss in 23% compared to the control.
1-methylcyclopropene; anonaceae; storage; wax; postharvest conservation; fruit quality
