Effects of Storage Temperature on Quality of Persimmon Fruit cv. P2 in Vacuum Packaging

Abstract

Effects of storage temperature on quality of persimmon fruit cv. P2 packed in vacuum packaging was studied. Persimmon fruit were harvested at 80 percent color break and packed in low density polyethylene (LDPE) bag. Subsequently, all bags were vacuumed by a vacuum packaging machine prior to storage at 2, 4 and 8^oC for 2 months. After storage, persimmon fruit were put on shelf at 10 ^oC. The study found that persimmon fruit stored at 4 ^oC had the longest shelf life which up to 7 days according to panelists' satisfactions. In addition, the fruit had the lowest incidence of fruit softening, water soak and flesh browning. Whilst vacuum packaged persimmon fruit stored at 2 and 8^oC had only 4 days of shelf life since the fruit stored at 2^oC developed flesh browning while another stored at 8^oC showed fruit softening and developed flesh off-flavor.