Apple Quality as Affected by the Precooling Rate and $O_2$ Pulldown Rate in Controlled Atmosphere Storage

Quality attributes of apple are greatly affected by the cooling rate and environmental conditions during storage. Studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of cooling rate on different quality attributes of apple. The effect of $O_2$ pulldown rate of the CA chamber on the quality of apple was also determined. Two methods were used viz. conventional CA procedure and rapid CA procedure. Apples stored by medium and slow cooling methods lost its flesh firmness significantly from an initial level of 4.55 kg to 2.83 kg and 2.27 kg, respectively on 35 days after storage whereas, in rapid cooling, the firmness level changed from 4.55 kg to 3.20 kg on 35 days after storage. At the end of 35 days of storage, titratable acidity decreased insignificantly from an initial value of 0.24l% to 0.239% in the case of rapid CA whereas in the case of conventional CA it dropped significantly to 0.215% from its initial level. The initial flesh firmness of 4.55 kg also changed significantly to 4.05 kg on 35 days after storage in conventional CA whereas in rapid CA it changed to 4.36 kg, which was found to be non-significant at 5% level of significance. Total soluble solids increased from an initial level of $12.43^{\circ}$Bx to $12.60^{\circ}C.$ Bx on 35 days after storage in rapid CA whereas it increased to $13.07^{\circ}$ Bx in conventional CA. Ascorbic acid content of apple juice decreased insignificantly from 6.67 mg/100 mL to 5.87 mg/100 mL on 35 days after storage in rapid CA whereas in conventional CA, it decreased significantly to 5.27 mg/100 mL from its initial level.