Effect of acetic acid repeated treatments on post-harvest quality of "Taloppo" table grape.

The most important pathogen for table grapes is Botrytis cinerea which causes a rapid deterioration of fruit. Postharvest losses are controlled with SO2 fumigations carried out every 7 or 10 days, but the use of this gas is becoming more difficult to justify because of undesirable effects on the fruit and the increasing concern for human health. Acetic acid, classified as a GRAS compound, can be employed with no restriction as preservative and represents a possible substitute to sulphur dioxide. The aims of the present work were: (1) to evaluate if repeated treatments with AAC during storage preserve table grapes fruit quality; (2) to verify the effectiveness of 3 different concentrations and time intervals between each treatment and compare the effects with SO2 treatment; The amounts of AAC used in each fumigation, performed for 15 minutes, were 30, 50 and 75 microL/L, and treatments were carried out 5, 3 and 2 times respectively during storage, in order to have the same final concentration (150 microL/L). Table grapes were also fumigated with SO2. Fruit was stored for 8 weeks at 5 degrees C and 95% of RH, followed by 4 days of a simulated shelf-life (SSL) at 20 degrees C and 85% RH. At the end of experiment decay, weight loss and visual assessment were evaluated. After eight weeks of storage the incidence of grey mould, with respect to untreated fruit, was reduced in all treatments. The comparison among the different treatments did not show significant differences between the fumigations performed 3 and 2 times, with 24.9% and 27.2% of rots respectively. A better decay control was achieved with 5 fumigations carried out every 2 weeks, (18.1% of rots), while decay in fruit treated with SO2 was 26.2%. During the SSL period no particular differences were observed among all treatments. None of the treatments affected weight loss, as well as no differences were found in the score attributed for the external quality (rachis browning and berries appearance). The results showed that a good control of grey mould could be achieved on table grapes by repeated fumigations during storage. AAC could be a promising compound to be used as alternative to SO2 in keeping fruit quality.