Effect of Storage Conditions on the Postharvest Quality Changes of Fresh Mango Fruits for Export during Transportation

Mango has a high nutritional value and is one of the most popular tropical fruits in the world (Sivakumar et al., 2011). Fresh mango fruit is also popular in Japan, marketed at a high price. Major mango production areas in Japan are located in Okinawa and Miyazaki in Kyushu. Total mango production in Japan was 3,664 tons in 2014 (MAFF, 2014), while a double amount of mango fruits (totaled 7,354 tons) were imported in 2014 (Japan fresh produce import-export and safety association, 2017). Of the imported mangoes, Mexico ranked the first in both amount (38.7%) and price (31.2%), followed by Philippines (17.7% in amount (ranked 2nd); 16.0% in price (ranked 4th)), Thailand (16.7% in amount (ranked 3rd); 19.8% in price (ranked 2nd)) and Taiwan (10.3% in amount (ranked 4th); 17.7% in price (ranked 3rd)). The Tokyo Customs reported (2015) that mango fruits were imported through the Narita airport (33.2%), the Port of Yokohama (23.8%), the Port of Tokyo (17.9%), and the Haneda Airport (16.7%), which exceeds 90% of total import in Japan. This report indicates that more than 40% of mango fruits were transported by ship in which postharvest quality loss is highly expected due to a long transportation time. However, little study has been conducted to assess the postharvest quality loss or ripening process of fresh mango fruits during a long distance distribution (Kienzle et al., 2011; 2012; Yasunaga et al., 2012; 2013a; 2013b). In our previous research, we have investigated the quality changes of fresh mango fruit before and after distribution (Yasunaga et al., 2013a), in which fruit quality at harvest were different between orchards in Thailand and Japan, mainly because of the distances to the final destination. While postharvest quality changes were reported, the results were limited to the two points in time, namely at harvest and after distribution. Because postharvest ripening is controlled by storage temperature, it is necessary to investigate the effects of temperature on the quality changes of fresh mango fruits exported for a long distance market. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of storage conditions on the postharvest quality changes of fresh mango fruit exported from Thailand to Japan. In addition to the monitoring of distribution conditions, two laboratory experiments under three different temperature conditions (i.e., 15, 25 and 35°C) were conducted at before and after distribution to better understand postharvest ripening processes during long-distance transportation. Results are compared with respect to postharvest quality changes under different distribution conditions for a better quality control system of fresh mango fruit for export.