Resumo

MERCADO SILVA, Edmundo; MONDRAGON JACOBO, Candelario; ROCHA PERALTA, Liliana  e  ALVAREZ MAYORGA, Beatriz. Effects of fruit condition and storage temperature on pomegranate quality. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2011, vol.2, n.3, pp.449-459. ISSN 2007-0934.

The minimal processing of pomegranate is an alternative to increase consumption, also a use possibility of cracked fruits that causes significant postharvest losses. In order to design a simple technology for minimally processing, we studied the effect of the intact and cracked fruit condition, the presentation (wedges or grain) and storage temperatures (0, 5 and 10 ºC) on the physicochemical and microbiological quality for 20 days. In August 2007 fruits were collected from a commercial orchard of Creole pomegranate from Apaseo el Alto, Guanajuato. They were washed with water and then with a sodium hypochlorite solution (200 ppm) for 5 minutes. We cut to remove segments of each carpel (seeds were removed) and were treated again with sodium hypochlorite (50 ppm) for 5 minutes, drained and packed in plastic containers with lids of 200 or 100 g (for slices and arils, respectively) and stored at 0, 5 and 10 ºC. Every two days we analyzed color, sugars total, ºBx and acidity as well as mesophilic aerobic bacteria, coliforms, fungi and yeasts presence. At 0 °C, fruits samples preserved intact for up to 20 days without significant changes in quality. Cracked fruit samples had shorter shelf life (18 days at 0 ºC) at 5 °C, the shelf life was reduced to 12 and 10 days, at 10 °C it was only 6 and 4 days for intact fruit and cracked fruit respectively. The slices quality was better respect to loosen arils, but showed a slight darkening of the skin.

Palavras-chave : Punica granatum L.; conservation; minimal processing.