Introduction. Sweet cherry
fruit is a very perishable commodity, because fruits decay and lose
water rapidly after harvest as a consequence of their high respiratory
rate. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect
of the combination of hot water plus essential oil treatments and
hot water treatment alone on the quality of ‘0900 Ziraat’ sweet
cherries during cold storage. Materials and methods.
Fruits were divided into four groups and were treated by dipping
into water at 24 °C for 30 s (control), dipping into water at 60 °C
for 30 s, and dipping into water at 60 °C for 30 s plus either menthol
treatment or thymol treatment. After treatments, all fruits were
packed in polypropylene bags and stored at 0–1 °C temperature and
90–95% relative humidity for 45 days. Physical and chemical changes
were determined at 15-day intervals during storage. Results
and discussion. All of the postharvest treatments improved
fruit quality characteristics compared with fruit of the control.
According to the data, after 45 day
s of storage, combination treatments were found to be more effective
in controlling decay. The treated fruits had higher total anthocyanin
and total phenolic compounds. In control fruits, total anthocyanin and
total phenolic compounds initially showed a slight increase, but
their accumulation significantly decreased with time.