Effect of harvest temerature on the shelf-life of eggplant fruit

Abstract

Fruits of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) cv. Ciça were harvested at 5:00 a.m. (2l°C, 94% RH), 8:00 a.m. (27°C, 72% RH) and 11:00 a.m. (32°C, 55% RH), and stored at 12°C, 18°C and 24±2°C. Each treatment had four replications, with ten fruits, in a completely randomized block design. The half-cooling time was 46 minutes for the eggplant fruits harvested at 11:00 a.m. and kept at 12°C. All fruits harvested at 5:00 a.m., 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. and kept at 12°C maintained their quality until ten days, without deterioration. The fruits harvested at 5:00 a.m. showed less deterioration, even when stored at higher temperatures, as 18 and 24°C. Fruits harvested at 5:00 a.m. and kept at 12±2°C had 12,05% of fresh weight loss.