Physicochemical Changes and Longevity of Strawberry Fruits Under Different Storage Conditions

Strawberries are highly perishable and have a brief postharvest life. Perforated and unperforated zipper bags, plastic food covers with cork sheets, and storage at ambient, 4°C, and −20°C are techniques that may increase shelf life. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the effects of different storage methods on the physicochemical characteristics of strawberries and identify appropriate storage techniques. The experiment used a two‐factorial CRD with three replications. Fruits were used to identify parameters including storage duration, weight loss, shrinkage, moisture, dry matter, chlorophyll content, carotenoids, antioxidants, vitamins B and C, disease incidence, and storage potential for both fresh and stored conditions. Weight loss was higher in the control and lower in the −20°C condition. Then, 100% of the shrunk fruits were found in the control condition. Dry matter (percentage) was found highest in the stored sample of BARI 2 and lowest in the fresh sample Linosa. Physicochemical analysis showed that fresh samples had higher levels of total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, β ‐carotene, and lycopene than stored ones, except for carotenoids. Stored samples had higher vitamins B1 and B2, while fresh samples contained more vitamin C. The stored sample contained the highest amount of Brix content in Rabi 3 but the lowest antioxidant activity in the sweetheart compared to the fresh sample. The results of this study suggest that the longest storage duration was found in the plastic food cover with a cork sheet at ambient temperature. At 4°C, fruits stayed fresh for about 15 days, while those stored at −20°C remained fresh and edible for 60 days. Fresh fruits have higher nutritional quality than stored fruits, but storage conditions did not impact pigments, carotenoids, vitamins, or dry matter.