Hydrocooling and packaging in the post-harvest conservation of chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

• Main Authors: Antonia Mirian Nogueira de Moura Guerra, Deyse dos Santos Silva Silva, Priscila Silva Santos, Lucas Barbosa dos Santos, Maria Gabriela Magalhães Silva
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados 2020-11-01
• Series: Agrarian
• Subjects: atmosfera modificada. hortaliça. pré-resfriamento.
• Online Access: https://ojs.ufgd.edu.br/index.php/agrarian/article/view/9478

Chives are a highly perishable leafy vegetable, the intense loss of water and the rapid deterioration gives it a conservation of few days, being necessary the use of techniques capable of prolonging its postharvest useful life. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of storage conditions on the post-harvest useful life of chives. An experiment was adopted in a completely randomized design in a 6x9 factorial scheme in plots subdivided with three replications, in the plots the storage conditions were allocated and in the subplot the evaluation periods, with each experimental unit consisting of a pack of 24 leaves. The storage conditions were without hydrocooling and without packaging, without hydrocooling and plastic packaging, without hydrocooling and PVC, hydrocooling without plastic packaging, hydrocooling and plastic and hydrocooling packaging and PVC and stored at 10 ± 2 ºC. They were stored for 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 consecutive days. Shelf life, loss of fresh weight, relative water content, total chlorophyll and carotenoids were evaluated. It was observed in the plastic packaging and PVC film, independent of precooling, less loss of mass and an increase of 16 days in shelf life. The relative water content was influenced by the conditions and the storage time. The chlorophyll content of the leaves decreased during the storage days at 10 °C, regardless of the treatment. Hydrocooling associated with packaging and storage temperature were effective in temporarily reducing chlorophyll degradation and carotenoid content. Thus, it is recommended to adopt plastic packaging or PVC film associated with hydrocooling for 30 minutes, as an alternative to prolong the post-harvest life of chives.