Researches Regarding the Influence of Cold Storage on the Chlorophyll Content in Lettuce

The aim of the present investigations was to determine the effect of the cold storage period on the content of chlorophylls in the leaves of lettuce and arugula (rucola). The research material consisted in two types of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. capitata; Lactuca sativa L. var. crispa) and arugula (Eruca sativa) purchased from supermarkets in Timisoara. The quantitative determination of chlorophyll pigments in leaves (SPAD) was made by chlorophyll meter (SPAD 502 Konica-Minolta). During the few days cold storage at a temperature of 4ºC, the content of chlorophyll in the leaf significantly decreased, compared with that in the control group. After 3 days of cold storage arugula and lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata) values of chlorophyll content differ statistically very significantly (p<0.001) from the values found in the control group which for lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. crispa) differs statistically significant (p<0.05).