Abstract: Effects of six preharvest bagging treatments on postharvest degreening behavior and storage characteristics of Satsuma mandarin fruit were investigated in this study. Early ripening Satsuma mandarin fruit from Beibei, Chongqing were bagged with six different kinds of fruit bags one month before harvesting. After harvesting, the bagged fruit were degreened with ethephon. The results indicated that these bagging treatments increased single fruit mass at harvest to different degrees, by 10% to 30% compared with the control group. Treatments 3#, 6# and 7# significantly increased the content of total phenols in harvested fruit, and resulted in good color development on the fruit, shortening the time required for degreening. On Day 40 of storage, there was no overall significant difference in the color parameters L*, a* or b* among the six bagging groups (P > 0.05). All bagging treatments increased decay incidence during postharvest storage to different extents, of which treatments 3# and 6# caused the highest decay incidence. Besides, compared with those determined immediately after harvest, the contents of total soluble solids, titratable acid, reducing ascorbic acid and total phenols in the fruit treated with bag 7# did not significantly change during 40 days of storage. Based on the results mentioned above, bagging treatment 7# (single-layer yellow bag) has application potential in improving the degreening behavior of Satsuma mandarin fruit.

Key words: Satsuma mandarin fruit, bagging treatment, ethylene degreening treatment, harvest quality, storage characteristics