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BACKGROUND: Food marketers desire residue‐free fresh grapes although grapes have a short postharvest life. This study was performed to determine the influences of pre‐ and/or postharvest chitosan (Ch) coatings on postharvest quality of minimally processed (stem‐detached) organic 'Crimson Seedless' berries. Berries were sorted as: (a) control (untreated berries); (b) preharvest Ch (dipping the clusters on the vine into 1% Ch 10 days before harvest at 20% soluble solid content (SSC)); (c) postharvest Ch (dipping the stem‐detached berries into 1% Ch); and (d) pre + postharvest Ch. Berries were stored in 12 × 15 cm rigid polypropylene cups for up to 42 days at 1.0 ± 0.5 °C. RESULTS: Pre‐ and/or postharvest Ch coating reduced weight loss during storage. Pre‐ + postharvest Ch was the best treatment for restricting polygalacturonase (PG) activity, extending the visual quality, color features (L*, C and h°), skin rupture force, biochemical (SSC, titratable acidity, maturity index and pH) and bioactive (total phenol content, antioxidant activity) features. Pre‐ or postharvest Ch was also significantly effective in maintaining many quality features. CONCLUSION: Pre‐ and/or postharvest 1% Ch coatings effectively maintained the quality of minimally processed grape berries of organically produced 'Crimson Seedless' grapes by delaying weight loss and PG activity and keeping the postharvest physical, biochemical and bioactive features for 42‐day cold storage at 1.0 ± 0.5 °C. The combined use of pre‐ and postharvest Ch found to be more effective than single treatment. Thus, pre‐ + postharvest 1% Ch coating could be recommended as an ecofriendly sustainable methodology for extending the postharvest quality of minimally processed fresh grapes. © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable practices to extend the postharvest quality of horticultural products lead to cost-effective marketing during the prolonged season. Sweet cherries are among the most commonly consumed and traded fruits worldwide although they necessarily deteriorate after harvest. In the present study, the effects of UV-C irradiation in different application durations along with modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on quality maintenance of the '0900 Ziraat' sweet cherries were investigated for two years (2018 and 2019). The fruits were divided into six application groups; (1) storage in plastic cups control, (2) using MAP (Xtend®) packages, (3) 5 min UV-C exposure, (4) 10 min UV-C, (5) 20 min UV-C, and (6) 30 min UV-C irradiation. Treatment of UV-C was performed at a 15 cm distance using a metal cabinet equipped with 8 UV-C lamps of 15 watts, 230V/50Hz at 254 nm wavelength. The sweet cherries were stored at 1 °C and 90% RH for 35 days. At the end of the storage, the greatest weight loss occurred in the control fruits, while the lowest loss was obtained from the fruits subjected to 10 min of UV-C for both years. Also, 10 min of UV-C provided the highest firmness value for both years. This treatment also has better effects on maintaining several quality features such as pedicel chlorophyll content, titratable acidity in fruit juice, and total phenolic contents compared to the control fruits. General findings indicated that 10 min UV-C irradiation would be a beneficial practice for extending the general quality features of '0900 Ziraat' sweet cherry during cold storage up to 35 d. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand for fresh grapes is increasing globally due to their rich composition in phenolic compounds, which have a strong antioxidant capacity. However, fresh table grapes deteriorate rapidly due to berry water loss and pathogen growth, which make it difficult to preserve without treatment. Chitosan coating, as a healthy, simple and innovative technology against to common SO2 fumigation, was tested at various concentrations (0%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 2.0%) for the effectiveness on postharvest quality extension of detached grapes of 'Alphonse Lavallée' cultivar. Chitosan coating at all doses significantly retarded the loss in berry weight, extended the skin rupture force and total phenol content. Visual quality was higher due to coating the berries with chitosan. Chitosan at all concentrations was effective on delaying maturity index (used to express postharvest senescence) and changes in berry colour values such as L*, C and Hue angle. Among the applied doses, 1% chitosan solution can be recommended to apply since higher doses were more effective with similar results on overall quality features of berries. Overall findings demonstrated that chitosan as an edible coating with their unique barrier can be utilized as a natural preservative of detached grapes to extend the postharvest quality up to 28 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]