Effects of Bagging Periods on Quality and Post-harvest Storage Behaviour of ‘Lidongben’ Longan Fruit
Fruit of'Lidongben'longan(Dimocarpus longan Lour.cv.Lidongben),a late mature cultivar in Fujian Province in China was used to study the effects of pre-harvest bagging at 80,95 and 110 days after full bloom on quality and post-harvest behaviour.The results were as follows: Fruit pre-harvest bagging could obviously improve appearance quality of longan fruit,also increase contents of total soluble solids,total sugars,vitamin C and soluble protein in pulp of longan fruit.Whereas,fruit pre-harvest bagging could decrease content of titratable acidity in longan pulp,effectively improve fruit quality of longan.Fruit pre-harvest bagging increased contents of total phenolics and activity of peroxidase(POD)in pericarp of longan fruit,which were closely related to pericarp browning of longan fruit,thus,pre-harvest bagging promoted the occurrence of pericarp browning during longan fruit storage.Meanwhile,fruit pre-harvest bagging could obviously increased the developments of aril breakdown and post-harvest diseases of longan fruit which resulted in reducing fruit storability and shortening storage life of longan fruit.From the results it can be seen that fruit pre-harvest bagging could obviously improve appearance quality and pulp nutritional quality of 'Lidongben' longan fruit,and the results suggested that the optimum pre-harvest bagging period of'Lidongben'longan fruit was 110 days after full bloom,i.e.,about 1 month before harvest.Whereas,pre-harvest bagging shorten storage life of longan fruit.