possibility of increasing shelf-life and decreasing losses of some iranian grape cultivars

grape is used in large amounts and different types (fresh, raisin, vinegar, molasses, juice, unriped grape and etc). remarkable amount also are preserved in stores and cold-rooms to be supplied out of season, that causes  quality and weight decrease. this research was conducted to study different factors which affect the grape shelf-life. obtaining more information about optimum conditions and requirements for preserving grape fruits in cold-room and reduction of losses were the main objectives. for this purpose, two fakhri and shast-e-arous cultivars late-ripen with high preservation ability and were selected as main cultivars in qazvin. the grape were treated using: sterilization with fungicide solutions before or after harvest, so2 gas before transferring to cold-room and their interaction. then they were placed in 3 and 6 kg boxes for 30, 60 and 90 days under 0±1°c in cold-room. some variables such as fresh weight and tss of each treatment were noted before placing boxes in cold-room. other factors were also measuread after brining the boxes out from cold-room, such using weight reduction (%) diseased (%) and healthy fruits (%). the experiment was conducted as factorial based on crd with 3 replications. mean comparison was carried out by duncan's multiple range test (dmrt). the results showed that shast-e-arous cultivar presented better storable properties than fakhri. so, it was more suitable for preserving in cold-room and supplying out of season. so2 fumigation was more effective than the other fumigation methods for fungi growth control and also higher healthy and marketable fruit percent preserving. however, treating fruits with fungicide solution after harvest was in second grade, too. 3 kg boxes were more suitable than 6 kg ones because of having higher healthy fruit percent and very low infection to fungi. however, weight reduction was higher in 3 kg boxes than 6 kg ones. storage period was very effective on all traits. so, fruit quality and quantity decreases as storage period increases.