The objective of this work was to evaluate the shelf life of five yellow melon hybrids (AF7100, AF-1498, AF-5107, AF-4945 e AF-1805) grown in the Agropole Mossoró-Assu, RN. Fruits were harvested at commercial maturity and transported to the Postharvest Laboratory of the Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido (UFERSA). Upon arrival, twelve fruits were randomly selected of each hybrid for characterization at zero time of storage. Right after, the other fruits were weighed, identified and stored in cold room at 10±1ºC and 90±2% RH for 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49, 56, 63 and 70 days. For all these storage times, it was performed evaluations for loss of mass, pulp firmness, external and internal appearances, pH, titratable acidity, soluble solids content, reducing sugars, and total soluble sugars. The experimental design was completely randomized in subdivided parcels according to the time. The parcel has the cultivar and the subparcel has the storage periods. It was used three replications, and the parcel was constituted by three fruits. There was a significant interaction between cultivars and storage time on the pulp firmness of the fruits. It was observed significant effects of the main factors on the other assessed traits. Higher fruit pulp firmness was observed in the hybrid AF-7100, followed by the hybrid AF-5107. There was an increment in the percentage of mass loss during the storage. It was not observed any damage on the external and internal appearances until 42 and 28 days of storage, respectively.
Cucumis melo L; shelf life; cultivars evaluation
