RESEARCH REGARDING THE PRINCIPAL CHEMICAL COMPONENT LOSS IN THE APPLE FRUIT DURING STORAGE

Abstract

The study presents a comparison of the loss that apple fruits suffer during the storage period in both traditional and refrigerating storage. The study was performed at the Fruit Research Station Cluj-Napoca, Romania. There were gathered biochemical data for four winter maturation apple varieties: Jonathan, Golden Delicious, Starkrimson and Wagener Premiat, during the months of October (at storage), December and March. The determined biochemical aspects were water, total sugar, and ascorbic acid. The refrigerating storage was better in comparison with the traditional storage, confirmed by biochemical composition. The lowest dehydration was for the apples stored in the refrigerating room. By storage method and apple varieties comparison, the lowest water loss was shown by Wagener Premiat variety and the highest by Jonathan in refrigerating storage in comparison with traditional storage. Wagener Premiat variety showed the best qualities even for total sugar and ascorbic acid in comparison with the other apple varieties studied. To keep the apples in optimum conditions, the genetic characters of each cultivar and the cultivar behaviour to CA storage is required.