Abstract:

Fresh ‘Chester’ blackberry fruits with different degrees of maturity (DM) were stored at 20 － 25 ℃ or 2 －5 ℃ and the changes in their physical and chemical quality characteristics were determined at 3-day intervals during a storage period of 24 days. Results showed that DM and storage both had a remarkable effect on the storage life of ‘Chester’ blackberry fruits. ‘Chester’ blackberry fruits with lower DM stored at lower temperatures (more than 0 ℃) displayed longer storage life. Fully ripe blackberry fruits were most easy to decay, had a very short storage life, which only was 2－3 days at 20－25 ℃, and exhibited rapidly deteriorated quality characteristics during storage. Therefore, they are unsuitable to be sold in the market. Initially ripening blackberry fruits displayed perfect storage resistance and a storage life of 15－18 days at 2－5 ℃, whereas their appearance was small in size and their quality was bad. Thus, they are also unsuitable to be sold in the market. Blackberry fruits with a medium DM had a storage life of 8－11 days at around 4 ℃, and post-ripening occurring during storage made their main quality parameters basically reach the levels of fully ripe blackberry fruits. So, they are suitable to be sold in the market.

Key words: blackberry fruit, storage quality, decay rate