Optimization of controlled atmosphere storage conditions to export 'Palmer' mango

Abstract

Brazil is the world's eighth largest mango producer. In 2009, Brazilian mango production was of 1.197.694 tones. Mango ranks in third place among Brazilian fruit exports and in 2010 mango exports reached 124.694 metric tons, a 13% increase in relation to the previous year. Although important to the country, mango exports represent just 10.4% of Brazilian mango production. Based on the cultivation of American varieties, such as 'Tommy Atkins', 'Haden', 'Kent', 'Keitt' and 'Palmer', the later has increased in importance due to its quality characteristics and consumer preference, especially to European countries. Despite the excellent natural conditions for production, Brazilian mangoes have quality problems in export markets. Poor mango quality in destination markets is often due to the poor flavour of fruit harvested immature, chilling injury, and decay or peel blemishes caused by anthracnose. Therefore, the main objective of this project is to improve ´Palmer' mango quality in export supply chains to Europe, and the specific objectives are: i. establish the best maturity stage for sea freight mangoes under low temperature and controlled atmosphere (CA) determined using non-destructive techniques, near infrared spectroscopy (NIR); ii. developing prediction models for dry matter (DM) and soluble solids content (SSC), and internal colour; iii. compare whether the proposed approach with be different from traditional mango handling.