Cold and controlled atmosphere of 'Eragil' peaches

The objective of this research was to evaluate the conditions of controlled atmosphere associated with low temperature, aiming to maintain the quality and reduce losses during storage of 'Eragil' peaches. The evaluated treatments were cold atmosfhere, controlled atmosphere (CA) with partial pressure of 1.0kPa of O2 + 3.0kPa of CO2, 2.0kPa of O2 + 5.0kPa of CO2 and 2.0kPa of O2 + 8.0kPa of CO2, all stored for a period of 57 days at -0.5°C. The experimental design was completely randomized with eight repetitions. After 57 days of storage plus two days of exposure to 20°C, fruits in controlled atmosphere maintained higher acidity, and showed less damage caused by internal flesh browning. The soluble solids, skin browning, rot and respiration rate showed no difference between the storage conditions, however all CA conditions had higher synthesis of ethylene and ACC oxidase activity. After shelf life, fruits stored in 2.0kPa de O2 + 8.0kPa de CO2 showed higher firmness loss, lower incidence of woolliness, internal and skin browning, and therefore the most effective CA condition for 'Eragil' peaches storage.