This work aimed to evaluate the effects of mechanical injuries, by impact, compression and cut in the cellular structures of 'Quintal' avocados. In the injury by impact, they were submitted, by free fall, to a height of 2.00 m, in opposed sides of their equatorial area; in the compression, they were submitted by a weight of 117.6 N for 24 hours, and it provoked two opposite lesions in the longitudinal area; and the cuts were longitudinally applied at number of four, with 40 mm of length and 4 mm of depth in the opposed sides of the fruits. After 5 days of storage, under the laboratory conditions (25ºC and 60% RH), the verification of the cellular structures was proceeded through scanning electron microscopy, which indicated that the injuried avocados by compression and impact, although without apparently visible lesions, presented cellular disorder in their structures.
compression; cut; impact; scanning electronic microscopy; Persea americana
