The comparison of postharvest physiology of capia type urartu peppers grown under conventional and residue free production systems in protected cultivation

In this research, the effects of diferent production systems on postharvest physiology of Capia type peppers grown in protected cultivation were investigated. Experiments were conducted between 2011 and 2013 growing season in Antalya. For that purpose, Capia type Urartu peppers were grown in two different production systems namely conventional and residue free. Urartu peppers were harvested at optimal harvest time and divided into five different groups for different postharvest applications. The first group of peppers was stored in palliflex storage system containing 3% CO2 : 2% O2 concentration. The second group of fruit was stored in modified atmosphere bags (Xtend) containing 5 kilos of peppers.The third group of fruits was stored in ordinary bags containing 5 kilos of peppers. The fourth group of fruits was stored by replacing the peppers in styropor plates containing 1 kg fruit covered by stretch film. The last group of fruits was considered as a control group without any packaging treatment. After packaging, all the fruit groups were stored at 8oC temperature with 90-95% relative humidity for 60 days. During the storage, various quality analyses were performed on the fruits taken from different storage conditions at fifteen day intervals. Futhermore, the quality of peppers was also examined at shelf life condition (20°C) and peppers were kept at this temperature for 2 days. During the storage weight loss, TSS, TA, changes of C* and h° angle, CO2 and O2 changes in MAP , ascorbic acid content, total phenolic compounds, β-carotene content and amount of marketable fruits were determined. According to the results of this study, increased weight loss in peppers were determined during the storage period. The weight losses of peppers stored in palliflex storage system was the lowest of all of the production systems. Intially, TA showed an increase in fruits before decreasing during the storage in all packaging treatments. The highest TA was found in the control fruits comparison to ordinary bags, strectch film and palliflex storage systems. However, the lowest TA was found in the peppers stored in MAP. In the experiment, the highest TSS was found in control group and the lowest TSS was in fruits stored in ordinary bags. The longer the period of storage, the lower ascorbic acid was determined in all packaging treatments. The storage of peppers in Palliflex system resulted in the highest ascorbic acid contents at the end of the storage. The amount of total phenolics compounds increased during the first fifteen days of storage then started to decrease with prolonged storage. The highest total phenolic compounds were determined in the peppers stored in palliflex followed by control and ordinary MAP treatments. During the storage, the amount of β-caroten was the highest in control fruits. H° angle and C* value of peppers, decreased during the storage and the lowest loss was in palliflex storage system. In terms of marketable peppers, the fruits stored in palliflex system were still acceptable after 60 days of storage in comparison to other treatments. No marketable fruits left after 60 days of storage. The quality losses of peppers especially become visible during the shelf life conditions at 20ｏC. In terms of cultivation systems, at the end of the storage, the weight loss of peppers cultivated in residue - free production system was lower than the peppers grown in conventional system. However, it is determined that peppers cultivated in residue-free production have higher but not significant (P ≥ 0.05) levels of vitamin C, total phenolics compounds, h° angle and C* value, TA, Beta-karoten and marketable fruits in comparison to the convential system. Furthermore, we did not detect any residue in the residue free production system. However we have detected two active substances on the peppers grown in the conventional production system.