ISHS Acta Horticulturae 244: IV International Symposium on Quality of Vegetables
THE INFLUENCE OF TEMPERATURE AND PACKAGING MATERIAL ON THE POST HARVEST QUALITY OF ICEBERG LETTUCE |
| Author: | R. Stanley |
| Abstract:
Two years of trials were carried out in 1986 and 1987 using field grown iceberg lettuce c.v. Saladin to investigate the influence of a range of post harvest temperatures and overwrap materials on product quality. Quality was assessed by the measurement of weight loss and scoring of visual quality attributes. The post harvest temperature treatments included vacuum cooling followed by 5°C, 10°C and ambient (15°–20°C) temperatures with combinations of controlled and ambient conditions. Lettuces were grown and packed under commercial conditions using traditional and new overwrapping materials with a range of permeability. Assessments were made over seven or nine day periods. Results indicate that all aspects of lettuce quality are retained longer at 5°C than at 10°C or ambient temperatures. Several of the overwraps gave similar results to the widely used MPY01 polyolefin material. Higher permeability materials gave higher levels of weight loss but these did not result in large differences in visual quality scores. Lettuces of good quality when packed retained high quality scores for a longer period than those which were found to exhibit tipburn or had been subject to temperature or drought stress prior to harvest. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
