Development of a method for profiling of volatile organic compounds to monitor heat stress in hot water dipped apples

Storage rot is a major contributor to losses of organic apples due to restrictions in spraying in orchards. Postharvest pre-treatments such as hot water dipping (HWD) have been proven successful to reduce storage rot. However, excessive heat during dipping easily induces heat stress and physiological disorders, which only show up after several weeks of cold storage. To develop further the HWD technology, a method for early detection of physiological disorders is desirable. As apples emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in response to stress and ripening, VOC profiling can be a useful tool for detecting the immediate heat stress and latent physiological disorders. In this study, a selected ion-monitoring program was developed for analyzing VOCs from apples (Malus domestica ‘Ingrid Marie’ and ‘Pinova’) dipped in water at 20 and 56°C for 3 min. VOCs were sampled by solid-phase microextraction and analyzed by GC-MS in total ion current mode. From these results, a selected ion-monitoring program was developed which enabled detection of trace VOCs collected by static headspace sampling. The results showed that all apples dipped in 56°C for 3 min developed visual signs of physiological disorders in cold storage. At the same time, the VOC profile of these apples differed from that of the 20°C treated apples. This work provides a solid basis for a future development of the VOC method to forecast physiological disorders and to improve the HWD technology for better control of storage rot.

Publications

Acta Horticulturae, 1144: 341-348

Development of a method for profiling of volatile organic compounds to monitor heat stress in hotwater dipped apples Published: 15-11-2016

Documents

Development of a method for profiling of volatile organic compounds to monitor heat stress in hot water dipped apples (English) Conference article

Details

Activity type

Publication in scientific journal (peer review)

Activity work package

Fruit quality; improvement of fruit handling/storage

Activity number

AU-WP4-A1

Activity contact

Associate professor Merete Edelenbos
Aarhus University, Department of Food Science
Kirstinebjergvej 10, 5792 Aarslev, Denmark
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +45 8715 8334

Activity partner

AU

Activity country

Denmark

Last edit

19-06-2017