Effect of temperature manipulation during storage and ripening on firmness, extractable juice and woolliness in nectarines

‘Independence’ nectarines were stored at — 0.5°C for three or four weeks or at 3°C for four weeks or kept at room temperature for 18 h prior to storage for four weeks at -0.5°C. After cold storage, fruit from all treatments was ripened at 10°, 15°or20°C. In all treatments the percentage woolly fruit initially increased to high values and thereafter decreased with further ripening. The rate of increase and decrease in woolliness depended on the ripening temperature. A storage period of four weeks at — 0.5°C resulted more woolliness during subsequent ripening. Woolliness persisted longer after a four-week cold storage period than after a three-week one. When fruit was delayed at room temperature prior to cold storage, woolliness generally developed earlier and to a lesser extent during ripening. At all ripening temperatures initial storage at 3°C resulted in most woolliness extending over the longest period. In addition, browning of the meso- carp tissue occurred only in fruit cold stored at 3°C.-The delay period before cold storage decreased fruit firmness by 15.7 to 17.6 N. Except for fruit subjected to the delay period, the extractable juice in fruit of all treatments first decreased during ripening to low values then increased.