Pre-harvest Application of Essential Oil for Maintaining Quality of "Flame Seedless" Grapes During Cold Storage

Document Type : Original research paper

Authors

Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University

Abstract

The present study was conducted during the two seasons of 2020 and 2021 to determine the effects of pre-harvest treatment with thyme oil on grape (Vitis vinifera) Flame seedless cv. fruit quality during cold storage conditions (0±1°C and 90±5% RH). Clusters were sprayed with thyme oil at 0.2% 48 hours before harvest, while the control was sprayed by water. Fruit quality was measured at harvest time and then every 15 days of cold storage. This experiment was arranged in a factorial design with three replicates. The results in this study confirmed that grape clusters treated with thyme oil at 0.2% recorded the highest marketable percentages and visual appearance of clusters. In addition, this treatment recorded the highest berry contents of ascorbic acid and total soluble solids (TSS/TA) comparable to the control. Thus, it could be recommended to use thyme at 0.2% as a safe pre-harvest treatment maintain the quality of Flame Seedless grapes during cold storage.

Keywords

Main Subjects