POSTHARVEST BEHAVIOR OF ‘HASS’ AVOCADO FRUIT AFFECTED BY TEMPERATURE AND MICROPERFORATED BASED-MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE

Abstract

The ‘Hass’ avocado (Persea americana Mill.) fruit can be handled with refrigeration and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), but MAP may cause fermentative metabolism due to low O₂ availability. Thus, gas exchange must be controlled, and this can be achieved with microperforation. The effect of using low temperature and microperforated package on postharvest behavior of ‘Hass’ avocado fruit was evaluated. polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers of 1.87 L, with 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 holes of 200 μm on the walls were used with batches of three fruits and total weight of 550.0 (± 34.2) g. By modification of the number of perforations, O₂ concentration in packages was controlled. The microperforated-MAP technique with 4 and 2 microholes was convenient to handle fruit at 18 and 5 °C, with concentrations of O₂ of 3.5 and 4.0 %, respectively, because it caused reduction in weight loss, softening rate, color change rate, and fermentative activity, compared to open air storage.