Efficacy of mild thermal and pulsed light treatments, individually applied or in combination, for maintaining postharvest quality of strawberry cv. Albion

Abstract

The effect of mild thermal (TT) and pulsed light (PL) treatments, individually applied or in combination, on fungal spoilage, mechanical properties, weight loss, and microstructure of strawberries (cv. Albion) stored at 5 °C was evaluated. TT (2.5 and 5.0 min in water at 46 ± 0.4 °C) was more effective than PL (fluence: 11.9 J/cm2) to reduce fungal decay. TT for 5 min delayed the onset of infection for 6 days and maintained the lowest percentage of infected fruit along storage, showing the best performance among the strategies evaluated. Combined treatments did not achieve greater fungal inhibition than individual TT. Non significant differences in weight loss among control and treated fruit were observed up to 8 days of storage. TT for 5 min and its combination with PL significantly enhanced firmness, stiffness, and resistance to deformation as compared to untreated fruit, in concordance with the reinforcement of cell walls. Practical applications: This work aimed to compare the effect of mild thermal and pulsed light treatments, individually applied or in combination, on strawberries storage life. The evaluation of the impact of these technologies on selected quality parameters (fungal growth, weight loss, and mechanical properties) and their correlation with modifications at microstructure level, would contribute to the selection of postharvest strategies for prolonging the shelf life of strawberries.