RESEARCH CONCERNING THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT STORAGE CONDITIONS ON THE PRESERVATION CAPACITY OF SOME NEW APPLE VARIETIES

The preservation of apples for a longer period in order to assure the extension of the scope of the consumption as fresh fruit represents a major scope of the producer and merchandiser, which produce end export such fruits. The research performed in this field with the apple varieties 'Luna', 'Redix', 'Jonaprim', 'Goldrush', 'Florina', 'Rubinola' and 'Sirius', stored in different storage conditions, emphasized the difference between cultivars because of the different time of maturation. In the case of the same cultivar, the time of preservation was shorter in the ambient conditions (60 days for 'Sirius'), reaching 120 days in the modified atmosphere condition, under refrigeration. 'Florina' and 'Redix' were preserved for 90 days in the ambient condition and for 140 days in the modified atmosphere, under pre-refrigeration. The weight losses were lower for all cultivars in modified atmosphere (3,8% for 'Florina', 4,2% for 'Redix' and 4,6% for 'Sirius'). At the beginning of the storage period, and at the end of the preservation period, the main physicochemical characteristics were also analyzed. The obtained results show that 'Florina' and 'Jonaprim' were the best, for example regarding the firmness values, at the end of the storage period.