Low temperature conditioning improves American eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) storage compatibility

Abstract

Low-temperature conditioning (LTC) has been reported to effectively control post-harvest chilling injury (CI). Conspicuously, it has not been widely adopted by the industry. This is in part related to an incomplete understanding of the factors governing the treatment's efficacy and consistency along genotypes and maturities. Herein, we evaluated the effect of fruit type (striped and purple) and harvest maturity (baby and large) on the effectiveness of LTC (10°C for 2 days) to control eggplant CI. Purple eggplants showed a strong increase in chilling susceptibility between the baby and large maturity stages. In contrast, striped fruit evidenced no major changes in chilling susceptibility along maturation. Susceptible purple large eggplants benefited far more from LTC than baby fruit. Prestorage LTC not only controlled surface scaled development but also decreased pulp softening and browning. In addition, it substantially improved phenolic antioxidants, anthocyanin, and chlorogenic acid retention during storage at 4°C. Overall, results show, for the first time, that the efficacy of LTC in eggplant is deeply affected by the fruit's genotype and maturity. Low-temperature conditioning may be a valuable tool to improve the storage compatibility of commercial eggplant batches having different chilling injury sensitivity.