Determining the effect of treatment with antimicrobial substances before storage on the preservation of lemons

Abstract

The problem solved is to determine safer and more effective technologies for post-harvest processing of fruits. To achieve the goal, lemon fruits (of different degrees of wilting) were cut crosswise, each piece was treated with miramistin and deсasan in concentrations of 0.1 %, 0.3 %, and 0.5 %. The samples were placed on agar blocks with pure cultures of pathogens and placed in wet Petri dishes, kept at a temperature of 25 °C in a thermostat for 6–10 days; the experiment was repeated three times. The research aimed to establish the concentration of antimicrobial drugs for treating lemons; determine the weight loss of lemon fruits depending on the storage temperature. The object of the study is the process of preserving the quality of lemon fruits during post-harvest treatment with antiseptics during cold storage. It is proposed to treat lemon fruits with miramistin and deсasan in concentrations of 0.3 % and 0.5 % in order to inhibit the development of blue and green mold during storage. Damage to turgor fruits is two times less than that of weakly wilted ones. At a storage temperature of 10 °C, fruits are stored for 40–45 days. At the same time, daily losses are 0.49 %. Lowering the storage temperature to 4 °C extends the storage period to 90–100 days, with a daily mass loss of 0.08 %. A curvilinear correlation dependence of the second order of weight loss of lemon fruits on the duration of storage was established (R2=0.9758–0.9903). Treatment with antiseptics makes it possible to implement environmentally friendly solutions that will make it possible to exclude chemically synthesized fungicides and preserve the natural properties of fresh citrus fruits after harvesting, as well as extend their shelf life. In the development of new, low-cost, environmentally friendly, and affordable technologies, this is an important technique