Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
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Research Note

Effect of temperature on chilling injury, decay and quality of

Hami melon during storage
Bi Yang a,b, Tian Shiping b,*, Lui Hongxia a, Zhao Jie a, Cao Jiankang a,
Li Yongcai a, Zhang Weiyi c
a
Department of Food Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
b
Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100093, China
c
Department of Food Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumchi 830052, China

Received 31 July 2002; accepted 8 May 2003

Abstract

Among three Hami melon (Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus Jacq.) cultivars (Kalakusai, 8601 and New Queen), there
were clear differences in sensitivity to chilling injury (CI) during storage at 22 and 1 8C. After 10 weeks storage and 1
week shelf life at 1 8C, CI was high in Kalakusai fruit. At 3 8C, 8601 fruit developed CI after 7 weeks storage and 1 week
shelf life. At 5 8C, CI was observed in New Queen fruit after 3 weeks storage and 1 week shelf life. Storage for 10 weeks
at 3 8C, 7 weeks at 5 8C, and 3 weeks at 7 8C resulted in the lowest incidence of decay and the highest percentage of
marketable fruit for Kalakusai, 8601 and New Queen melons, respectively. Principal fungi isolated from decayed fruit
were Fusarium spp., Alternaria spp., Rhizopus spp., Mucor mucedo and Trichothecium roseum . The fruit held at lower
temperature had better appearance, less browning and were firmer.
# 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Hami melon; Chilling injury (CI); Decay; Quality; Storage temperature

1. Introduction usually purchased because of their large size, oval

shape, good taste and crispy flesh texture. How-
Hami melon (Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus ever, losses are high due to limited use of
Jacq.) is the most important melon crop grown in refrigeration and absence of effective postharvest
the northwestern provinces of China. There are treatments (Bi and Zhang, 1991). Temperature is
more than 100 cultivars which are adapted only to usually the most important environmental factor
areas with long, dry growing seasons. The fruit are limiting postharvest life of fruit and vegetables,
and there is little information available for Hami
melon. Xu et al. (1990) observed that Hami melon
* Corresponding author. Tel.: /86-10-6259-1431; fax: /86-
(cv. Kalakusai) was susceptible to chilling injury
10-8259-6475. (CI) at 0
/2 8C, although they did not find a
E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Shiping). relationship between chilling temperature and
0925-5214/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.
doi:10.1016/S0925-5214(03)00104-2
230 B. Yang et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
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time. Morris et al. (2001) reported on the main melons were considered acceptable for market
postharvest diseases in Hami melon, but did not when no more than two lesions (diameter 5/2
obtain information for responses at low tempera- cm) were found on the fruit. Appearance was
ture. The objective of this study was to determine scored as: (1) good, fruit without of trace damage;
the storage quality potential of three main Hami (2) fair, fruit with moderate damage; (3) poor, fruit
melon cultivars, New Queen (early-maturing), with severe damage. The extent of browning was
8601 (middle-maturing) and Kalakusai (late-ma- estimated as described by Carter (1981): (1) no
turing) in the temperature range of 1
/22 8C. browning; (2) slight browning; (3) moderate
browning; (4) severe browning; (5) excessive
browning. TSS was determined by squeezing juice
2. Materials and methods from the central section of flesh directly onto a
hand-held refractometer (model 10481 S/N, USA).
Mature fruit of New Queen (42
/43 days after Three readings were taken for each melon. Firm-
anthesis) and 8601 (55
/56 days after anthesis) ness was measured using a hand-held firmometer
were obtained from Huangdun State Farm, Dun- (FT-327, Italy), equipped with a 8-mm plunger tip,
huang, Gansu, and fruit of Kalakusai (66
/67 days at the stem end area of the fruit where a section of
after anthesis) were harvested from Milan State rind (4 /4 cm and :/1 cm deep) had been
Farm, Kuele, Xinjiang, during 1997 and 1998. The removed and three readings were taken for each
fruit were sorted for uniform size and absence of melon.
obvious injuries, packed individually in 35 cm long All data were statistically analyzed using analy-
net bags of foam plastic (Fulihau Plastic Products sis of variance, and Duncan’s multiple range test
Co. Ltd, Lanzhou), put in the standard melon was used to separate means.
shipping boxes (4 melons/box) and transported to
Lanzhou. New Queen and 8601 fruit were in
storage within 48 h of harvest, and Kalakusai 3. Results and discussion
fruit were stored within 72 h.
Fruit in boxes were placed in a cool room and Among the three cultivars, there were clear
maintained at the desired temperature 9/0.5 8C differences in sensitivity to CI during storage at
with 809/5% RH. New Queen melons were stored different temperatures between 22 and 1 8C (Table
at 3, 5, 7 or 22 8C for 3 weeks plus one additional 1). After 10 weeks storage and 1 week shelf life at
week at a room temperature of 22
/24 8C. 8601 1 8C, CI was high in Kalakusai fruit. At 3 8C this
fruit were stored at 3, 5, 7 or 18 8C for 7 weeks plus cultivar had no CI, whereas 8601 fruit developed
one additional week at 18
/19 8C. Kalakusai fruit CI after 7 weeks storage and 1 week shelf life. At
were stored at 1, 3, 5 and 16 8C for 10 weeks plus 5 8C, CI was observed on New Queen fruit after 3
one additional week at 16 8C. There were 16 fruit weeks storage and 1 week shelf life; however both
for each treatment with three replications. The Kalakusai and 8601 fruit had no CI at this
experiment was conducted over 2 years. temperature. The results indicated that the middle
All fruit were evaluated for CI according to the or late-maturing cultivars of Hami melon had
scale: (1) no CI; (2) CI area 5/10%; (3) CI area more tolerance to CI. The relative tolerance of
from 11 to 25%; (4) CI area from 26 to 50%; (5) CI middle or late-maturing cultivars to low tempera-
area ]/50%. CI of the melon surface is expressed ture is perhaps due to the lower temperature
as brownish pitting and water-soaked areas. Decay experienced during late stages of fruit growth
was determined as surface fungal growth on the inducing an adaptive resistance to chilling stress
stem end and the rind. Fungi associated with rots (Wang, 1993). It seems that temperatures of 3
/
were isolated, and plated onto potato-dextrose 7 8C are preferable for long-term storage of Hami
agar with and without added lactic acid. The melon.
isolates were identified and tested for pathogeni- Hami melon were more susceptible to decay at
city by wounding with a spore suspension. The room temperature than at lower temperature.
 B. Yang et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
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Table 1
Effect of temperature on chilling injury rating (CIR), decay and percentage of marketable fruit, of Hami melon during storage

Cultivars Temperature (8C) CIR Decay (%) Marketable fruit (%)

New Queen 3 2.7 b 41.9 a 65.1 b

22 1.0 a 75.2 b 31.0 a
8601 3 3.2 b 60.2 a 56.7 b
18 1.0 a 82.0 b 26.4 a
Kalakusai 1 3.6 b 55.7 a 58.0 b
16 1.0 a 68.3 b 42.7 a

Different letters in each column indicate significant differences as determined by the Duncan’s multiple range test (P /0.05).

Storage at 3 8C for 10 weeks, 5 8C for 7 weeks and at lower temperature, Fusarium, Alternaria and
7 8C for 3 weeks resulted in the lowest incidence of Mucor rots were more significant. The study
decay and the highest percentage of marketable showed that the fungi causing decay of Hami
fruit for Kalakusai, 8601 and New Queen fruit melon were similar to other types of melon in
respectively (Table 1). The sensitivity of fruit to other published studies (Wade and Morris, 1982;
rots was also dependent on cultivar. Kalakusai Ceponis et al., 1986; Snowdon, 1990).
fruit had a lower incidence of decay during storage Hami melon were of better quality when held at
compared with fruit of New Queen and 8601 at lower temperature (Table 2). New Queen fruit
cultivars. Principal fungi isolated from decayed had a moderate appearance at 5 and 7 8C, whereas
fruit were Fusarium spp., Alternaria spp., Rhizo- 8601 fruit had better appearance at 5 8C. There
pus spp., Mucor mucedo and Trichothecium ro- were no TSS differences among storage tempera-
seum . Minor pathogens included Cladosporium tures and New Queen and 8601 fruit had less
spp., Penicillium spp. and Geotrichum candidum . browning and were firmer at lower temperature.
Fusarium rot had the highest incidence, occurring Kalakusai fruit stored at 1 8C were firmer and no
at the stem-end, and in cracks and nets on the rind. appearance, browning or TSS differences were
Alternaria rot occurred in the nets on the rind and found among the different storage temperatures.
at the sites of CI. Rhizopus and Mucor rots were The results from this study suggest that 7, 5 and
mainly associated with mechanical damage of the 3 8C was the optimum storage temperature for
melon surface. Trichothecium rots were found at early, middle and late-maturing Hami melon
the stem-end, flower-end and on the sides of the cultivars respectively. These data largely agree
fruit. At room temperature, Fusarium, Rhizopus, with the recommendations of Hardenburg et al.
and Trichothecium rots were more serious, while (1986) for melon storage.

Table 2
Effect of temperature on quality characteristics of Hami melon

Cultivars Temperature (8C) Appearance Browning TSS (%) Firmness (N)

New Queen 3 2.3 ab 2.2 a 10.2 a 34.3 b

22 2.9 b 3.6 b 9.6 a 23.5 a
8601 3 2.2 a 2.7 a 11.7 a 42.1 b
18 2.6 b 3.4 b 11.8 a 34.3 a
Kalakusai 1 2.3 a 1.7 a 10.5 a 37.2 b
16 2.8 a 2.1 a 9.8 a 29.4 a

Different letters in each column indicate significant differences as determined by the Duncan’s multiple range test (P /0.05).
232 B. Yang et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
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Acknowledgements Ceponis, M.J., Cappellini, R.A., Lightner, G.W., 1986. Dis-

orders in Muskmelon shipments to the New York market,
1972
/1984. Plant Dis. 70, 605
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This research was supported in part by a grant Hardenburg, R.E., Watada, A.E., Wang, C.Y., 1986. The
from Chinese Ministry of Education. We thank commercial storage of fruit, vegetables, and florist and
Mr Xu W.R. and Mr Xu H.X. (MELON Fruits nursery stocks. USDA Agric. Hdbk., 67.
Ltd Co., Lanzhou) for their help in carrying out Morris, S.C., McConchie, R., Ma, K.Q., Tang W.H., 2001.
Postharvest handling of melons in Australia and China.
the experiments in their company.
ACIAR Proceedings, vol. 105, pp. 44
/48.
Snowdon, A.L., 1990. A color atlas of postharvest diseases and
disorders of fruit and vegetables. In: General Introduction
and Fruits, vol. 1. Wolfe Sci. Ltd, Spain, pp. 12
/52.
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