After harvest, apples and pears go to the cold store. Top fruit is suitable for long-term storage, and is delivered up to a year after harvest. The circumstances under which the top fruit is stored, determine the quality of the top fruit.
Good results with Jonagold after storage with DCS Automatic
With DCS Automatic from Storex, apples are stored at the lowest possible oxygen levels. “This makes for good firmness during shelf life, retention of colour and a fresh look of the product,” says Peter Kooijman of Storex. “After storage, the fruit ripens in a natural manner, making for a delicious taste experience. Skin diseases and internal storage problems are also prevented with storage at low oxygen.”
What have been the experiences with applying DCS Automatic in the past season? At fruit company Van Rossum in Stavenisse, the DCS system has been used for a few years on Jonagold apples. “Fruit grower Erik van Rossum was very satisfied with the quality this year,” Peter reports. “The Jonagold apples from the DCS room, he says, were less greasy, firmer, and maintained their firmness in the distribution chain compared to a conventionally stored batch. The presentation of the apples is better. They look fresher and the base colour is retained better.” DCS Automatic is used this year on Elstar, Junami, Jonagored, Granny Smith, Gala, Cox, Boskoop and several other foreign varieties.
Delaying ripening of apples and pears
SmartFresh is a storage method that’s used in both apples and pears. AgroFresh has been promoting the use of SmartFresh in the past five years. The technique controls the ripening of fruit by managing the ethylene levels during storage and transport. “Ethylene causes ripening and rotting. SmartFresh really is an ethylene inhibitor to prevent quality issues,” Jan Vernooij explains. “Shortly after the store is opened, the top fruit is treated with a sugar-based powder, which is dissolved in water. The agent delays the ripening of the apples and pears until they are taken out of the cold store. This results in a better and longer shelf life and retention of the fruit’s firmness.”
Storage at low oxygen levels good alternative
The ACR measuring method (Advanced Control of Respiration) from Van Amerongen has the aim of storing apples at the lowest possible oxygen level. “The reason for developing this method was to find an alternative treatment of scald on apples. A disease in which the skin colours brown/black as a result of oxidation,” says Rob Veltman. “In the Netherlands and Belgium, this isn’t a big issue, but in Mediterranean countries scald is a major problem. There were a number of crop protection agents to counter scald, but they have been banned.” Storage at very low oxygen levels is a good alternative though. There is a risk, however, of apples producing alcohol (fermenting) at too low levels. “We developed a measuring method to enable storage at the lowest possible oxygen levels by determining apples’ respiration characteristics. We do this by shutting down a cold store for four hours and determining the RQ value (Respiration Quotient), that is CO2 production divided by O2 absorption. Based on the RQ value, the oxygen level is automatically adjusted upward or downward by the MyFruit Dynamic control programme,” he explains. Rob says the apples are put into a coma, so to speak, greatly improving retention of colour and firmness of the apples during shelf life.
More information
Storex
Peter Kooijman