摘要
Heat treatments such as hot-water dipping （HWD）, hot water rinsing and brushing （HWRB）, and hot air treatment （HAT） have been applied on a wide range of horticultural crops to control postharvest decay and to maintain quality characteristics. In this study we compared the influence of hot-water dipping （HWD） for 2 rain at 50℃and hot air treatment （HAT） at 37 ℃ for 30 hours, on postharvest performance of kumquat （Fortunellajaponica Lour. Swingle, cv. Ovale） fruit. Decay development, transpiration rate （fruit weight loss）, external appearance, and nutritive （sugars and organic acids） and functional properties （ascorbic acid, total phenolic compounds, and total antioxidant activity） were evaluated over 21 days＇ simulated shelf-life at 17 ℃. Untreated fruits were used as control. There was no visible damage to the fruit following HWD or HAT and after storage. However, while HWD and control fruit maintained their fresh appearance during the first 14 days of storage and were rated as fairly fresh after the 21 days, HAT fruits had lost their gloss and no longer appeared fresh. HWD did not affect fruit weight loss while HAT induced significant weight loss with respect to control. HAT did not significantly affect decay incidence after 14 days＇ storage but effectively reduced decay after 21 days＇. HWD notably reduced decay development after 14 and 21 days of storage and proved significantly more effective than HAT. Neither HWD nor HAT significantly affected the nutritive and functional properties of fruit. Thus, present results indicate that while HWD can be applied on kumquats to control postharvest decay without impairing the quality traits, HAT conditions （treatment time and temperature） should be optimized, due to adverse effects to fruit quality.
