The Postharvest Quality of Integrated and Organically Produced Apple Fruit

Róth, E., Berna, A., Beullens, K., Lammertyn J., Schenk A. and Nicolaï, B.
BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

As the importance of conservation and food safety is growing all around the world, environmentally safer production methods are becoming more widespread in all segments of agriculture. Besides the presumed health properties, environmentally safer production systems claim to yield products which have a better internal quality (flavour, texture, vitamins).

The objective of our research was to examine whether there is a difference in the quality (texture, taste, flavour) and postharvest behaviour of apples coming from integrated versus organic orchards. Apples were picked in three different regions of Belgium. In each region organic and integrated orchards had the same climatic and soil capabilities. Apples were harvested at the end of September in 2004 and stored in air and also under ULO conditions (1% O2, 2.5 % CO2) for 6 months. Acoustic stiffness, firmness, soluble solid content, acid-, sugar content and the aroma profile were studied. Quality parameters were analysed right after harvest and storage. At both times an additional shelf-life experiment (14 days) was carried out simulating retail store conditions. There was a considerable softening during storage in air and shelf-life, but not under CA-conditions.

Apples coming from different regions and different production systems did not differ in the studied parameters. Freshly harvested apples had a high malic and quinic acid and sucrose content and were clearly different from stored apples that had high glucose and citric acid content. Fresh apples had a different aroma profile compared with apples after shelf-life except for air-stored apples immediately after storage. The volatile responsible for the typical apple aroma, (2-methyl-butyl-acetate), had the highest relative abundance at harvest, after shelf-life and storage in air.

As a conclusion it can be stated that the effect of storage condition is much larger than that of the production systems on the quality of apples. Aroma profiles of air-stored and CA-stored apples converge during shelf-life conditions.

 

Presentation (ppt)