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The objectives of the present work were control the decay incidence and ripening of wounded fruits by the relative humidity management during the storage. Fruits were allocated in mini experimental chambers at the temperature of 1°C during 5 months. Was verified a significant interaction on ethylene production after 2 and 6 days of shelf life at 20°C. On the evaluation carried out after 6 days, wounded fruits stored under LRH showed lower ethylene production. There was higher mass loss in wounded fruits stored in HRH. Wounded fruits showed high decay incidence. The LRH is not an efficient method to control decay incidence in wounded fruits, but maintain higher flesh firmness, lower ethylene production and respiration rate.

Wood decay is a factor considered in all commonly accepted tree risk assessment methods; however, few studies have attempted to assess its presence in the urban forest or its predictability given visual cues and site factors. A random sampling of trees situated on hurricane evacuation routes was inventoried and assessed for risk in the city of Tampa, Florida, U.S. In addition to a basic visual assessment, a sampling of larger diameter (>30.5 cm) live oak (Quercus virginiana) and all large diameter laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia) trees were tested with a resistance-recording drill to determine the amount of decay present (looking specifically at the sound-wood-to-stem-diameter ratio). Overall, 56.9% of the trees tested had some level of decay, though the incidence of decay was higher in laurel oak (67.4%) than in the live oak (29.4%). Additionally, tree species (P < 0.01), diameter (P < 0.01), and the presence or absence of visual decay indicators (P = 0.03) were all significant predictors of decay presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The export of New Zealand tomatoes is restricted to Australia and Pacific Island nations and constrained by the cost and shortage of airfreight space. The industry does not have a consistent commercial solution to enable sea freight to the Asian market. A potent inhibitor of ethylene response, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) has emerged as a tool for controlling ripening and extending the shelf life of many fresh products. Knowledge of 1-MCP effects on cool-stored fresh tomatoes is limited. In the present study, mature-green and breaker tomatoes treated with 1-MCP were stored at 2.5 °C for 5 weeks. At this temperature, 1-MCP treatment enhancedAlternariadecay severity (from latent infections) and resulted in softer fruit than non-treated controls, whereas 1-MCP reduced decay from ‘ripe rots’ when fruit were ripened at 20 °C. These results suggest that the ripening delay induced by 1-MCP may increase tomato chilling sensitivity during cool storage. While 1-MCP shows promising results in extending postharvest storage life in many crops, including tomatoes, these results indicated that application of 1-MCP before cool storage is not appropriate for assisting commercial sea freight of tomatoes. Nonetheless, it may be possible to apply 1-MCP and then store tomatoes above the temperatures that cause chilling injury in order to extend storage life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Chilling-induced softening of tomatoes can be hard to separate from ripening. [•] Internal pericarp puncture is the best textural technique to separate ripening from chilling. [•] Chilling injury (CI) causes tomato softening independent of ripening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Long term low temperature storage of mature-green tomatoes is currently risky because of the likely development of chilling injury (CI), reducing shelf life and hence restricting flexibility of trade. Intermittent warming (IW) has been proposed as a potential solution to aid successful long term tomato storage. The effectiveness of an IW regime in reducing CI was tested in two different tomato cultivars each grown in a different production conditions (Palmerston North, New Zealand and FL, USA) and stored at low temperature. Three cycles of IW to 20°C for 24h every 7d reduced CI and decay development in fruit stored at either 2.5 or 6°C for 27d. However, efficacy of IW differed greatly between the two cultivars/production regions. Cycles of IW enhanced red colour development in New Zealand greenhouse-grown ‘Cedrico’ tomatoes stored at 6°C, while the same cycles in field-grown ‘Soraya’ tomatoes in Florida did not. Decay severity was higher in ‘Soraya’ and occurred at both 2.5 and 6°C, whereas ‘Cedrico’ showed decay at only 2.5°C. However, IW reduced decay incidence in tomatoes from both locations. While IW was effective in reducing CI in both cultivars/production regions, these results suggest that CI symptoms and IW efficacy are highly dependent on cultivar and/or production conditions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Development of decay and/or discoloration was assessed in the functional sapwood of one coniferous and three deciduous trees after wounding and artificial inoculation with six wood decay fungi. Living stems of mature Douglas fir, beech, oak, and sycamore trees were wounded in spring 2002 and immediately inoculated with brown, white, and soft rot fungi. Extent of discoloration and decay, wood weight loss, and total phenols in the reaction zone (zone of active response at a dynamic interface between living sapwood and wood colonized by decay fungi) were assessed 16 and 28 months after inoculation. In all hosts, extent of discoloration and decay was greater in the axial than in the radial and tangential directions. After both sampling times, less sapwood had become dysfunctional, and there were greater total phenols in the reaction zone of Douglas fir and oak than in beech and sycamore. Moreover, there was an increase rather than a reduction in dry weight in Douglas fir and oak wood samples. The white rot fungi Ganoderma adspersum, Ganoderma applanatum, and Ganoderma resinaceum were weakly invasive, i.e. behaved as saprotrophs in Douglas fir and oak. By contrast, in beech and sycamore the white rot fungus Trametes versicolor and the soft rot fungus Kretzschmaria deusta (ex Ustulina deusta) were strongly invasive 28 months after inoculation. After this time, both fungal species had induced the highest axial, radial, and tangential extent of dysfunctional wood in beech and sycamore, were capable of defeating the barrier zone (structurally homogeneous barrier comprising cells laid down by the cambium after wounding as response to damage), colonized the sapwood formed after wounding, and can therefore be classified as facultative parasites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]