Effect of some natural oils on storage and quality of Balady mandarin fruits

This study was conducted during two successive seasons 2017 and 2018 to study the effect of some oils immersing on the storability and quality of Balady mandarin (Citrus reticulate L.) fruits during the storage period. The post-harvest treatments were immersed with camphor oil, linen oil and imazalil either singly or in combination.  The fruits were stored at cold condition 8±1°C with 85-90% RH. Samples of each treatment were randomly withdrawn monthly for 4 months. The results showed that fruit weight loss %, fruit decay %, total soluble solids %, sugar contents and TSS/acid ratio were significantly increased with prolonging the storage period. On other hand, the advanced storage period induced a gradual decrease of fruit juice percentage, fruits firmness, acidity % and vitamin C. All treatments caused a decrease in fruit weight and fruit decay percentage, fruits firmness, acidity % and vitamin C. Using oils resulted in the least fruit weight loss, whereas, imazalil treatment had the least fruit decay percentage. Also, all treatments improved the fruit quality during the storage period compared control. It could be concluded that oils plus imazalil coating maintained fruit freshness without negative effects of fruit quality parameters and seems to be the proper and ideal treatment to prolong cold storage of Balady mandarin fruits without great reduction in fruit quality.