DOES THE QUALITY OF POMEGRANATE (Punica granatum L., cv. 116) DISPARITY IN RESPONSE TO DIFFERENT COATINGS DURING PROLONGED STORAGE?

The current study was applied in two successive seasons (2019 and 2020) with a view of keeping fruit quality, water content and reducing the chilling injury symptoms and browning of ripe pomegranate cv. 116 (which is considered one of the promising exportation pomegranate cultivars in Egypt in the last years) during cold storage at 5°C and 90% RH for 56 days followed by simulated shelf life at 20°C for 14 days. All conducted coating treatments including; beeswax at 5 and 10%, 1 and 2% of chitosan, 10 and 20% of paraffin, and Arabic gum at 5 and 10% were effective in maintaining fruit quality compared with control (uncoated fruits). Chitosan at 2% significantly maintained fruit quality, firmness, visual appearance, husk color (L value and a* value), ascorbic acid, and anthocyanin, also it reduced the browning incidence and decay percentage. Paraffin at 20% and beeswax at 10% were effective in maintaining fruit water content, in addition to significant preservation of husk distention was observed by using paraffin at 20%, whilst chitosan at 1 and 2% regulated activity of peroxides enzyme. Furthermore, using Arabic gum at 5% was the most effective significantly in the stability of fruit respiration rate and total soluble solids content compared with control.