Review on techniques and treatments toward the mitigation of the chilling injury of peaches

The peach is a stone fruit with a very juicy flesh, smooth skin, and a taste that satisfies the most demanding palate. The quality of this fruit is usually determined by texture, appearance, scent, flavor, and nutritional value. Peaches are very sensitive fruits, which deteriorate and ripen very quickly at environment temperature. Cold conservation is the usual method for delaying the product deterioration, but this process may cause chilling injury (CI). This damage is a physiological low temperature-driven disturbance, which affects the fruit quality, reducing its storage and shelf life and impairing its organoleptic characteristics. The characteristics of the main techniques and treatments to mitigate the CI such as: temperature-dependent, controlled and/or modified atmosphere, intermittent warming (IW), ethylene inhibitors, Glycine Betaine (GB), Methyl Jasmonate (MeJA) treatments, exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) and genetic determination are reviewed. Its consequences are evaluated and the ideal conservation air temperature and humidity are set to enhance organoleptic characteristics. Practical applications This paper provides a review of research studies assessing the CI in peaches. The consequences of this damage are evaluated and the ideal values of conservation air temperature and humidity to enhance the organoleptic characteristics are described. It aims to help producers and retailers to know in advance the quality of peaches stored in refrigeration chambers and decide the price based on this prediction.