Effect of Acetaldehyde Fumigation on Fresh-cut Chinese Water Chestnut Quality during Room Temperature Storage
Postharvest Chinese water chestnuts were exposed to 0,0.1%,0.5% or 1.0% acetaldehyde vapor for 4h in a wellsealed container and,thereafter,stored in a cool,dry and ventilative place for 2 days.Following being peeled and sliced,the resulted Chinese water chestnut slices were stored in a plastic container covered with fresh-keeping film at ambient temperature (12℃) and were evaluated for color,nutrients and weight loss at intervals of 2 days.Results showed that acetaldehyde treatment at 0.1%,0.5% or 1.0% levels resulted in an effective delay of browning and a significant reduction of water loss in fresh-cut Chinese water chestnuts.The best browning-delaying effect was seen in 0.5% acetaldehyde-treated group,and 0.1% acetaldehyde treatment significantly increased the soluble solids content and decreased the titratable acidity.However,the degradation of reduced ascorbic acid was accelerated due to acetaldehyde treatment.
fresh-cut Chinese water chestnutacetaldehyde treatmentqualitybrowning