A study of pineapple black heart disorder

Abstract

Since 1983, export of fresh pineapple fruits to Middle East countries has considerably reduced as consignments of these fru it’s have been subjected to a physiological disorder, resulting in core breakdown and Internal Browning (IB) under cold storage conditions. The purpose of this study was to examine the best method of controlling IB. Experiment was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, eight treatments involving chemical, physical andphysico-chemical methods were tested with four replicates. Fruits were stored in the cold room (+10X1, and 85 % RH) and samples were taken at day 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 of storage period. They were kept for one day at room Temperature 28.9 °C (RH 97 %). Fruits wrapped in cellophane sheets and coated with 5 % wax Solution with postharvest fungicide (Benlate (1 g/l)) were selected fo r the second stage. The same treatments were applied with slight modifications. Wrapping of cellophane sheet around the fru it prevented IB up to 18 d. Application of wax around the fru it was selected as the most effective treatment which reduced IB induction by 87.5 %, while control showed 100% induction at day 20