Abstract

Sajad Fatemi , Mehrdad Jafarpour and Hasan Borji

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of heat treatments and fungicides on shelf life of Valencia orange. The research was conducted in a completely randomized design with 3 replications and 21 treatments at two levels of inoculation and no inoculation. Treatments were included: Thiabendazole (300, 600, 1500 and 2000 ppm), sodium bicarbonate (0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2%), hot water (45, 50, 55 and 60°C) with the duration (1, 2 and 3 min), control treatment. The fruits, after harvest were affected by fungicides and heat treatments were in 2 levels of inoculated and non inoculated form. Then, they were maintained and kept in plastic bags for 3 months at a temperature of 6°C with relative humidity of 85 to 90% at the end of the third month, the quantitative tests and experiments including decay percent, qualitative traits of vitamin C, percentage of Tss and acidity were done on the samples. The comparison of averages indicated that, in two groups of inoculated and non inoculated, thiabendazole treatments and sodium bicarbonate had a great and more significant effect on fruit decay. In non inoculated fruits, the hot water treatments and highest level of TSS in inoculated fruits with hot water treatment (60°C for 3 min) was observed. However, there was no significant difference with 50°C hot water treatment. In inoculated and non inoculated fruits, the highest level of TA was observed in hot water treatment. On the whole, to control the induced disease of Penicillium attacks, we can recommend the use of fungicides and hot water treatments.