Effects of Low Temperature Storage on Post-harvest Physiology and Quality of Late-matured 'Lidongben' Longan Fruit

The changes of respiration rate,cell membrane permeability and quality in post-harvest longan(Dimocarpus longan Lour.cv.Lidongben) fruit at(25±0.5) ℃ and(3±0.5) ℃ were investigated in this paper.The respiratory pattern of longan fruit belonged to non-climacteric fruit.Fruit respiration rate decreased when longan fruit stored at(25±0.5) ℃ for 4 days,then respiration rate increased obviously.Cell membrane permeability of longan pericarp increased rapidly,fruit was easy to weight loss,senescence,decay and pericarp browning after harvest.Aril breakdown was observed at the later stage of storing fruit at(25±0.5) ℃.Titratable acidity(TA) and vitamin C contents in longan aril decreased rapidly,total sugars and sucrose contents decreased,and reducing sugars contents increased at the earlier stage of storage but then decreased.Total soluble solids(TSS) content decreased at the earlier stage of storage but increased at the later stage.The ratio of TSS to TA increased at the earlier stage of storage but then decreased.TA content in aril increased at the later stage of storage.Low temperature storage at(3±0.5) ℃ could decrease markedly fruit respiration rate,inhibit pathogen development,delay fruit senescence and cell membrane permeability of pericarp increase,retard pericarp browning,reduce fruit weight loss and aril nutritional ingredient changes,inhibit aril breakdown,maintain fruit with higher quality and extend storage life of fruit.