Stripped corn oil emulsion alters ripening, reduces superficial scald, and reduces core flush in ‘Granny Smith’ apples and decay in ‘d’Anjou’ pears

‘Granny Smith’ apples (Malus x domestica Borkh) and ‘Beurre d’Anjou’ pears (Pyrus communis L.) were dipped in a 2.5, 5, or 10% stripped corn oil (a-tocopherol B5 mg kg) emulsions, 2000 mg l diphenylamine (DPA), respectively, at harvest and stored in air at 0°C for 8 months. Untreated fruit served as controls. In oil-treated apples and pears, ethylene and a-farnesene production rates were lower in early storage and higher in late storage than in controls. Untreated ‘Granny Smith’ apples and ‘d’Anjou’ pears developed 34 and 23% superficial scald, respectively, after 6 months storage, whereas fruit treated with oil at 5 or 10%, or with DPA at 2000 mg l were free from scald. After 8 months storage, oil at 10% was as effective as DPA in controlling scald in pears, whereas in apples, fruit treated with 10% oil developed 18% scald and DPA-treated fruit were scald free. DPA-treated apples, however, developed 32% senescent scald, while 5 or 10% oil-treated fruit had none. Oil-treated fruit were greener, firmer and contained more titratable acidity after 8 months of storage than control or DPA-treated apples and pears. In ‘Granny Smith’, 100% of the controls and 79% of the DPA-treated fruit developed coreflush after 8 months of storage, but in 10% oil-treated fruit, coreflush was eliminated. In ‘d’Anjou’, 34% of the controls and 27% of the DPA-treated fruit showed decay after 8 months of storage, compared with 5% decay in 5% oil-treated fruit, and no decay in 10% oil-treated fruit. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.