The effects of different postharvest treatments on quality of California wonder type peppers grown in Çanakkale district

In this research; the effects of different postharvest treatments on quality of ?California Wonder? bell pepper type at different harvest were carried out. For this purpose; hot water treatments at 40°C, 50°C and 60°C for 3 minutes, ultraviolet light at 254 nm (UV-C) treatments for 2.5, 5 and 10 minutes respectively, besides modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) based with low density polyethylene and polyvinylchloride were materialized on California Wonder type Maxibell F1 pepper variety at green and red maturity stages and Dut F1 variety at yellow maturity stage grown in Çanakkale region. Treated fruits were stored between 6°C- 7°C heat and 90%- %95 relative humidity conditions for 15, 30 and 45 days respectively. After each storage period, peppers were kept at 18°C- 20°C heat conditions for 2 days as shelf life. Some quality properties were assessed after each storage periods with shelf life. These quality properties were weight loss, fruit flexibility, skin color, chilling injury rate, decay incidence, membrane ion leakage, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid content, total sugar content and total phenolic compounds content. Moreover gas compositions inside packages were fixed during storage period. According to the results, storage period was found significant on quality of peppers at all maturity stages. Quality loss was occurred on fruits with prolonged storage. Furthermore MAP treatments based low density polyethylene and polyvinylchloride besides hot water treatments such as 50°C for peppers at red and yellow mature stage, 40°C for green maturity stage affected keeping the quality significantly.