Performance of different box bags for MAP to preserve the quality of ‘Angeleno’ plums in transport storage conditions

Postharvest technologies such as the lowering of storage temperature, the modifying of air composition and packaging are needed to preserve the quality of plums at optimum levels during transportation and marketing. In this work, we determined the effects of three different box bags (75×110 cm) – F1 (Mater Bi, 30 μm), F2 (LLDPE, 30 μm) and F3 treatment (LDPE, 30 μm) – on the quality of Prunus salicina (Lindell) ‘Angeleno’ subjected to the storage conditions as in longrange international transport in order to find the optimum packaging conditions. Fresh plum fruits were placed in a paperboard box of approximately 20 kg and were wrapped in the bags. To simulate the transport conditions, plums were stored at 1±1°C with a relative humidity (RH) of 90% for up to 35 days. The same packages were subjected to further storage for 7 days under simulated retail display conditions (20±1°C). Quality analysis was performed at 0 days and after 35 days, while visual analysis was performed at the end of storage. Fruits from each package (30 fruits random/each treatment) were evaluated for quality parameters, O2 and CO2 gas evolution inside each package, weight loss (%), pulp hardness (kg/cm2), soluble solid content (°Brix) and titratable acidity (meq/L). The best performance was obtained with the biobased bag (F1 treatment), which maintained at 35 days the passive modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) conditions of 17% for O2 and 3.7% for CO2; in fact, the fruits wrapped in this film responded well to the change of temperature during the storage, maintaining the best qualitative traits of the plums. All fruits maintained a good state of hydratation, showing weight losses of less than 1%. Plums stored with the F1 treatment maintained the °Brix values near to harvest time. The F1 treatment also exhibited the best visual analysis at 20±1°C.