Effects of essential oil treatments combined with hot water treatment on improving postharvest life of sweet cherry

Introduction. Sweet cherry fruit is a very perishable commodity, because fruits decay and lose water rapidly after harvest as a consequence of their high respiratory rate. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the combination of hot water plus essential oil treatments and hot water treatment alone on the quality of ‘0900 Ziraat’ sweet cherries during cold storage. Materials and methods. Fruits were divided into four groups and were treated by dipping into water at 24 °C for 30 s (control), dipping into water at 60 °C for 30 s, and dipping into water at 60 °C for 30 s plus either menthol treatment or thymol treatment. After treatments, all fruits were packed in polypropylene bags and stored at 0–1 °C temperature and 90–95% relative humidity for 45 days. Physical and chemical changes were determined at 15-day intervals during storage. Results and discussion. All of the postharvest treatments improved fruit quality characteristics compared with fruit of the control. According to the data, after 45 day s of storage, combination treatments were found to be more effective in controlling decay. The treated fruits had higher total anthocyanin and total phenolic compounds. In control fruits, total anthocyanin and total phenolic compounds initially showed a slight increase, but their accumulation significantly decreased with time.