Abstract: In order to prevent cherry fruit loss caused by chilling injury during storage, the effect of low-temperature storage on chilling injury in cherry fruits was explored to determine the optimal storage temperature. Four cherry varieties including Juhong, Summit, Lapins and Rainier were measured for their chilling injury index, sensory quality and physiological index during storage at －0.5, －1.0, －1.5 or －2.0 ℃. The results showed that the chilling injury increased with decreasing temperature. Moreover, all four types of cherry fruits stored at －2.0 ℃ revealed obvious chilling injury with a decay rate of 100%, and lost the edible value completely. However, the cherry fruits stored at －0.5 ℃ had the minimal chilling injury. Meanwhile, the activities of SOD and POD and the content of total phenols in Juhong at the storage condition of －0.5 ℃ were higher than those of other three varieties. In contrast, its PPO activity, MDA content and ethanol content were lower than other varieties although its sensory quality and physiological index were better than those of other varieties.

Key words: cherry, low temperature, quality, chilling injury