Determination of pre-harvest hexanal spray aplication on strawberry fruit self-life quality

Effects of pre-harvest hexanal spray application on 'Fortuna' strawberry variety fruit weight loss, fruit firmness, TA, color (L*, a*, b*), TSS, pH, total phenolic content, gas composition in MAP (CO2, O2), decay percentage, electrical conductivity, sugar (fructose, sucrose, glucose) content, total antioxidant (DPPH) activity, total flavonoid content, total anthocyanin content, microbiological (total bacteria, total yeast-mold) load and sensory quality parameters were determined at three-day intervals during 15-day storage life. For this purpose, strawberry fruits variety of 'Fortuna', which were applied hexanal spray with three different doses of 0%, 0.01%, and 0.02%, 15 days and 7 days before harvest, then treated and control fruits were packaged in modified atmosphere package (MAP) immediately after harvest. Fruits were stored at 2 °C and 90±5% relative humidity for 15 days storage. As a result, especially the hexanal-I spray application inhibited microbial growth (total bacteria, total yeast-mold) and positively effected of total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content, glucose, fructose content at the end of storage. However, there was no significant difference between the treated fruits and the control fruits on color, firmness and TA values. Between the applications, the fruits applied with 0.01% dose hexanal spray gave better results during 15 days storage.