The objective of this work was to evaluate the cv. Camarosa's quality of strawberries submitted to different harvest systems, UV-C light, exposure modified atmosphere and storage for different periods, seeking the increase of the useful life and the reduction of losses after the crop. The harvest was accomplished in two systems, in system one the producer accomplished the harvest without gloves, into wood boxes and without using the pre-cooling of the fruits. In system two the harvest was accomplished by trained people, who used disinfected gloves, and put the strawberries into also disinfected and washed plastic boxes, the pre-coolig which was used was -3C for 1 hour, up to the fruits pulp temperature reached 4C. The following treatments were tested: T1- control (fruits without UV-C light and without polyethylene bag); T2- fruits submitted to UV-C light for 6 minutes; T3- fruits conditioned polyethylene bag; T4- fruits submitted to the UV-C light and conditioned under a polyethylene bag. The storage was accomplished under a temperature of 0±0,5C and 90 to 95% relative humidity (RH) through periods of 3, 6 and 9 days followed by commercialization simulation for 3 days under the temperature of 8±1C and RH between 75 to 80%. In the harvest and after the storage it was evaluated weight loss; color; pulp firmness; soluble solids (SS); titratable acidity (TA); SS/TA ratio; ascorbic acid and incidence of rottenness. The pre-cooling usage reduced the weight loss and the percentage of rottenness. The weight loss decreased in treated fruits that was covered with polyethylene The UV-C light reduced the percentage of rottenness. Cv. Camarosa strawberries picked carefully, submitted to the pre-cooling, that went under the UV-C light and polyethylene film, maintains the quality for nine days of storage under 0ºC and 3 days of commercialization to 8ºC.
Pre-cooling; modified atmosphere; UV-C light; strawberry quality
