The objective of this study was to evaluated conservation of 'Hass'avocado submitted to the application of active modified atmosphere during cold storage. The fruits were packed in polyethylene+nylon and injected with mixture of gases constituting the treatments: I - the environment gas mixture (21.0 kPa of O2+0.03 kPa of CO2); II - 4.0 kPa of O2+5.0 kPa of CO2 ; III - 4.0 kPa of O2+6.0 kPa of CO2 ; IV - 4.0 kPa of O2+7.0 kPa of CO2 and V - 4.0 kPa of O2+8.0 kPa of CO2). The packing containing the fruits were stored in cold chamber at a temperature of 10±1ºC and relative humidity of 90±5%, for 25 days, with analyses performed every 5 days. The parameters evaluated were weight loss, respiratory activity, hydrogen potential (pH), firmness, titrable acidity (TA), soluble solids (SS), and activity of pectinmethylesterase (PME) and polygalacturonase (PG). Fruits submitted to the concentration of 4.0 kPa of O2+ 7.0 kPa showed the best quality mainly with less mass loss and low production of CO2.
Persea americana Mill; postharvest; packing
