Effects of Cooling Versus Seal-packaging wit High-density Polyethylene on Keeping Qualities of Various Citrus Cultivars1

Seal packaging of orange [ Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck cvs. Valencia and Shamouti], grapefruit ( Citrus paradisi Macf. cv. Marsh) and lemons ( Citrus limon Burnt, f. cv. Eureka) with high-density polyethylene (HOPE) film (0.01 mm in thickness) delayed softening and inhibited weight loss and deformation of the fruit more than cooling. Sealed fruit at 20°C and 85% relative humidity (RH) had better appearance and were firmer than non-sealed fruit at their lowest temperature possible without chilling injury and 85–90% RH. HOPE seal-packaging also inhibited chilling injury of grapefruit and lemons stored at 5° and 2°C, respectively. The C0 2 content of grapefruit was unaffected by seal-packaging, hut it was lower at cooler temperatures. Decay of citrus fruit depended more on the storage temperature than on the type of packaging. However, in storage up to 1 month, no significant difference was found in most experiments in decay percentage between orange, grapefruit, and lemon sealed with HOPE and stored in a packing house (13 to 25°C), and non-sealed fruits, at the lowest temperatures possible without chilling injury of 2, 10 and 14°C, respectively.