Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

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Postharvest Biology and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/postharvbio

Effects of 1-methylcyclopropene and diphenylamine on changes in

sensory properties of Granny Smith apples during postharvest storage
Nikola Tomica,* , Dragan Radivojevicb , Jasminka Milivojevicb , Ilija Djekica , Nada Smigica
a
b

University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Food Safety and Quality Management, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Agriculture, Institute for Horticulture, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:
Received 7 December 2014
Received in revised form 10 September 2015
Accepted 10 September 2015
Available online 19 September 2015

The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP)
and diphenylamine (DPA) postharvest pre-storage treatments on changes in sensory properties of
Granny Smith apples during cold storage along with subsequent keeping of fruit at room temperature.
Apples were stored in normal atmosphere (NA) at 01
C/9095 RH and evaluated after 3, 6 and 9 months
(after removal from cold storage plus 1, 8 and 15 d at room temperature) by descriptive sensory analysis.
Fourteen of the 17 evaluated attributes, in the form of an unfolded data matrix, were subjected to
principal component analysis (Tucker-1). The combination of 11 sensory attributes, which loaded heavily
on PC-1, was referred to as Freshness' axis. Three-way analysis of variance was applied on PC-1 scores for
samples (PC-ANOVA). 1-MCP samples showed relatively low rates of juiciness, cohesiveness, hardness,
crunchiness, greenness and sourness reduction during the observed period of storage as compared to
Control and DPA samples. All of the evaluated 1-MCP samples practically appeared on the positive side of
Freshness axis in principal component space. The highest level of freshness loss during the storage
period was observed in Control samples, which suffered changes in quality after the 9 months of storage
at such a level that the fruit ware decayed and not suitable for consumption. The most resistant to scald
forming were 1-MCP treated apples. No scald was found after 9 months of cold storage.
The treatment of Granny Smith apples with 1-MCP can extend the storage time in standard NA storage
for at least 3 months without signicantly losing freshness even two weeks after removal from cold
storage, and is more effective in preserving sensory attributes related to apple freshness when compared
with the DPA treatment.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Descriptive sensory analysis
Granny Smith
1-Methylcyclopropene
Diphenylamine
Tucker-1
PC-ANOVA

1. Introduction
Apple fruit is the second most produced fruit in Serbia with
annual production of over 266 thousand tons (Yearbook, 2012).
The production of Granny Smith apples is estimated to be at the
level of less than 10% of total apple production in Serbia (no ofcial
data available). Granny Smith is a late-ripening apple cultivar
valued for its attractive appearance, bright green skin color, white
to greenish-white esh, crunchiness, juiciness, and specic tart
avor, although concentrations of aromatic avor volatiles are low
(Abbott et al., 2004).
Apple quality and sensory characteristics can be inuenced by
different factors, including maturity, storage conditions and

* Corresponding author. Fax: +381 11 2199711.

E-mail addresses: tsnikola@agrif.bg.ac.rs (N. Tomic), draganr@agrif.bg.ac.rs
(D. Radivojevic), jasminka@agrif.bg.ac.rs (J. Milivojevic), idjekic@agrif.bg.ac.rs
(I. Djekic), nadasmigic@agrif.bg.ac.rs (N. Smigic).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.postharvbio.2015.09.009
0925-5214/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

postharvest treatments (Lu et al., 2012). During postharvest

storage a series of physiological disorders can be developed in
fruit inuencing signicant changes in sensory characteristics.
Granny Smith is an apple cultivar highly susceptible to disorders
during medium to long-term postharvest storage, especially to
skin color changes characterized by irregular brown discolorations
called supercial scald (Golding, 2004; Whitaker, 2004). These
color changes have a negative inuence on consumer acceptability
and may cause loss of market value (Zanella, 2003). Scald
symptoms develop only slowly in cold storage but they rapidly
increase in severity within a few days at normal air temperature
(Golding, 2004). Typically, early-harvested and less-mature fruit
are most susceptible (Ingle, 2010), but scald also may be developed
on fully mature fruit (Watkins et al., 1995). Scald has been
commercially controlled for years by the postharvest application of
diphenylamine (DPA) (Anet, 1974; Huelin and Coggiola, 1970; Meir
and Bramlage, 1988), but since this synthetic antioxidant is
considered to be pollutant and health hazard (Drzyzga, 2003) the
use of another ethylene inhibitor, 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP),

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N. Tomic et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

as a means of improving postharvest life and maintaining quality of

fruit, has gained more attention in recent years (Blankenship and
Dole, 2003; Watkins, 2008). 1-MCP is absolutely volatile, not toxic
and does not leave any harmful residue (Lafer, 2006) while
extending the shelf-life of fresh fruit (DeEll et al., 2008). 1-MCP
treatment can effectively suppress scald development when
applied at the correct time and concentrations (DeEll et al.,
2002; Golding, 2004; Lu et al., 2012; Moggia et al., 2009; Watkins
et al., 2000). Beside scald, the application of 1-MCP may positively
inuence peel greasiness (Fan et al., 1999; Watkins and Nock,
2005), senescent breakdown (DeLong et al., 2004; Watkins et al.,
2000) and rmness in apples (Lu et al., 2012; McArtney et al., 2011;
Moggia et al., 2009) throughout the storage period.
Table fruit is usually held and displayed in the markets at room
temperature for a certain period of time before sale. Long fruit
storage and exposure to high temperatures in markets can cause
fruit to ripen quickly, limiting their shelf life. Over-mature fruit are
unsalable in retail outlets and are disposed of, usually at very low
prices, representing a signicant loss in the fruit value chain
(McArtney et al., 2011).
Considering application of 1-MCP and DPA in fruit supply chain,
the majority of published manuscripts provide instrumental
sensory data such as rmness and objective color, as well as
sensory data such as ground color and incidence and severity of
scald (DeEll et al., 2008; DeEll and Ehsani-Moghaddam, 2010;
Golding, 2004; Jung and Watkins, 2008; Lu et al., 2012; McArtney
et al., 2011; Moggia et al., 2010; Zanella, 2003). A few authors
performed descriptive sensory analysis in their experiments but
did not apply multivariate statistical approach in analyzing and
interpreting sensory data (Lurie et al., 2002; Pre-Aymard et al.,
2005; Rizzolo et al., 2014). This study represents an attempt to
provide a better view of the sensory dimensions of Granny Smith
apple fruit during postharvest life.
The objective of this study was to investigate and compare the
effects of 1-MCP and DPA postharvest pre-storage treatments on
changes in sensory properties of Granny Smith apples during the
long-term cold storage combined with post-storage keeping of
fruit at room temperature in order to simulate the conditions that
could be found throughout entire marketing supply chain.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Samples
Physiologically mature fruit of Granny Smith apple cultivar
were harvested from 6-year old trees (size-controlling rootstock
M.9) planted at 3.2  0.8 m and grown in a commercial orchard
near the city of Arandjelovac in the Republic of Serbia (44
120 N
20
250 E). The harvest date was 10 October 2012.

2.2. Experimental setup and sampling plan

After the harvest, apples were divided into three batches
(macro-plastic harvest bins cca. 320 kg/bin) and tempered a couple
of hours in a pre-chamber space at 1517
C. One of the batches
was then submerged for 30 s in a 0.5% solution of diphenylamine
(DPA), drained and placed in normal atmosphere (NA) cold storage
at 01
C and 9095% relative humidity (RH). The second one was
placed in the cold storage (previously described) for 2 d until the
fruit had reached storage temperature and was then wrapped in
polyethylene (PE) plastic bag (no less than 100 mm thick) and
treated with 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) using SmartFreshTM
Research Tablet Generator [RTG (AgroFresh Inc.)]. 1-MCP was
applied in a gaseous state by dissolving three Pink and one Blue
SmartFreshTM tablets in the activator solution to provide concentration of 937 nL/L of 1-MCP (according to the instructions
provided by AgroFresh Inc.). The bag was sealed within one
minute. Duration of the application was between 20 and 21 h at
1
C. The third batch was used as untreated control and was stored
in the same storage conditions as the treated batches.
The apples were sampled for sensory evaluation after removal
from the cold storage at room temperature (2022
C) plus 1, 8 and
15 days according to the sampling plan shown in Table 1.
2.3. Sensory evaluation
Descriptive analysis was conducted by a sensory panel that
consisted of 7 members of the University of BelgradeFaculty of
Agriculture staff who were experienced in apple quality judging (3
men and 4 women). Over a period of 4 weeks, eight 2-h training
sessions were performed using Granny Smith apples of different
levels of freshness together with some other apple cultivars.
Different apple cultivars were used to help in both the training of
panelists and the anchoring of minimum and maximum levels of
individual sensory attributes. The list of 17 sensory attributes used
in descriptive analysis was generated during the rst two training
sessions considering only Granny Smith. The attributes with their
denitions are presented in Table 2. During the rest of the training
period the scales were calibrated and the panelists practiced in
using them for the evaluation. Since the apples had been removed
from the storage and evaluated basically in three separate periods
of time (after 3, 6 and 9 months of storage), a 2-h training session
was held each time a week before removing the apples from the
storage.
The selected sensory attributes were scored with respect to
their intensities using 15 cm line scales anchored with multiple
reference points within paper ballots. The scales for skin odor, esh
odor, sourness, sweetness and apple avor were anchored using
reference standards (sucrose, citric acid and green-apple aroma

Table 1
The sampling plan for sensory evaluation of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and diphenylamine (DPA) treated, and untreated (Control) Granny Smith apples. The table also
contains abbreviations for the experimental samples.
Cold storage

Duration at room T (2022
C) after the storage time

(01
C, 9095% RH)

3 months

6 months

9 months

1d
8 d (1 week)
15 d (2 weeks)
1d
8 d (1 week)
15 d (2 weeks)
1d
8 d (1 week)
15 d (2 weeks)

Sensory evaluation [Yes (+)/No ()]/Abbreviations

Controla

DPA

1-MCP

(+)/Control-3m
(+)/Control-3m-1w
(+)/Control-3m-2w
(+)/Control-6m
(+)/Control-6m-1w
(+)/Control-6m-2w
()
()
()

(+)/DPA-3m
(+)/DPA-3m-1w
(+)/DPA-3m-2w
(+)/DPA-6m
(+)/DPA-6m-1w
(+)/DPA-6m-2w
(+)/DPA-9m
(+)/DPA-9m-1w
(+)/DPA-9m-2w

(+)/1MCP-3m
(+)/1MCP-3m-1w
(+)/1MCP-3m-2w
(+)/1MCP-6m
(+)/1MCP-6m-1w
(+)/1MCP-6m-2w
(+)/1MCP-9m
(+)/1MCP-9m-1w
(+)/1MCP-9m-2w

Changes in sensory quality in Control samples after 9 months of storage were of such a level that apples were not suitable for sensory analysis.

N. Tomic et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

235

Table 2
Denitions of attributes used in sensory evaluation of Granny Smith apples.
Attribute (in English)

Denition

Appearance
Color description
Glossiness
Off-color
Size of lenticelsa

The color of skin from green to yellow.

Amount of light reected from the skin surface.
Visual percentage share of scald (irregular brown discolorations) on the skin.
The size of lenticels in diameter.

Odor
Skin odor
Skin off-odora
Flesh odor
Flesh off-odora

The
The
The
The

intensity
intensity
intensity
intensity

Flavor
Sourness
Sweetness
Apple avor
Overripe avor

The
The
The
The

taste stimulated by acids.

taste stimulated by sugars.
strength of all apple avors.
intensity of an old stored apple off-avor.

Texture
Waxy skin
Crunchiness
Hardness
Cohesiveness
Juiciness

The amount of wax coating on apple skin as perceived by rubbing the skin with ngers and palm.
The noise and force with which the apple slice breaks during chewing.
The force required to bite through the apple slice.
Amount of sample that deforms rather than ruptures during chewing.
Amount of apple juice released from the apple slice.

of
of
of
of

skin apple-odor.
skin off-odor.
esh apple-odor.
esh off-odor.

Excluded from further dimension reduction analysis.

solutions of different concentrations), while the rest of the scales

were verbally anchored.
The sensory panel evaluated all of the experimental samples
(Table 1) in two replications. Evaluations were performed in
sensory booths in the sensory testing laboratory at the University.
The samples were labeled with random 3-digit codes and
presented to the panelists monadically in random order, one
whole apple each. Apples were sliced by the panelists with hand
knives to the pieces having the width of approximately 2 cm on the
wider side. No strict instructions were given to the panelists
whether to swallow or expectorate individual bites. Low sodium
bottled water was used for palate cleansing.
2.4. Statistical analysis of sensory data
The data, i.e., the distances from the left end of the scales to the
marks made by the panelists, were collected and measured
manually. In order to test for the signicance of multivariate effect
for samples, the data were analyzed by one-way multivariate
analysis of variance (MANOVA) with samples as main effect (xed
factor). To identify sensory attributes that signicantly discriminate among samples, three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
applied with main effects of samples, assessors and replications
and all two-way interactions (samples = xed factor; assessors
and replications = random factors). When the main effect was
signicant Tukey honestly signicant difference test (Tukey HSD)
was used to separate the mean values for samples.
Sensory attributes that did not signicantly discriminate
among samples were excluded from subsequent dimension
reduction analysis (Table 2) and the rest of them were subjected
to principal component analysis (PCA). PCA was performed on
an unfolded data matrix constructed of 336 rows (24 samples  7
assessors  2 replications) and 14 columns (14 attributes). This
technique is often called Tucker-1 (Ns et al., 2010). Upon
dimension reduction, when it was clear that majority of the
original attributes loaded heavily on PC1 with small values of PC2
loadings at the same time, PC1-scores for samples were
subjected to 3-way ANOVA (PC-ANOVA) (Luciano and Ns,
2009). In the rst iteration samples was taken as xed

factor with assessors and replications as random factors. The

model included main effects and all 2-way interactions. Tukey
HSD test was used to separate the mean PC1-scores. In the
second iteration treatments and stage of evaluation were taken
as xed factors with assessors as random factor. The model
included main effects and stage  treatment and stage  assessor
interactions.
It was decided to operate with the unfolded data matrix after
initial data validation by Generalized Procrustes Analysis (GPA).
Initial GPA was performed on original sensory data divided into
14 personal construct grids (7 assessors  2 replications). The
results of the GPA yielded a consensus proportion of 0.85, which
indicated strong agreement among the 14 individual replications.
Randomization test (Grice and Assad, 2009) showed that the
observed consensus proportion was statistically signicant at the
0.05 level (observed p < 0.01). Individual isotropic scaling values
(Grice and Assad, 2009) were very close to unity (ranged from
0.93 to 1.06), indicated that individual differences in overall
variability of the grids were relatively small. Finally, consensus
data matrix obtained by GPA was further subjected to PCA, which
resulted in PCA-plots highly similar to the plots obtained by
Tucker-1.
GPA was completed using Idiogrid software version 2.4/2008
(Grice, 2002). The rest of the statistical analyses were performed
using SPSS Statistics 17.0. The level of statistical signicance was
set at 0.05.
3. Results and discussion
Seventeen sensory attributes (Table 2) were initially subjected
to MANOVA which revealed a signicant multivariate effect for
samples. Wilks lambda was signicant at p < 0.0001. Subsequent
3-way ANOVA showed that 2 out of 17 attributes (skin off-odor
and esh off-odor) did not signicantly discriminate among the
samples (p > 0.05). In addition, the size of lenticels data showed no
logical pattern across the samples and was assessed by the authors
as being not relevant for the experiment. These three attributes
were excluded from further dimension reduction analysis. None of
the attributes, left after removal of the three, showed a statistically

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N. Tomic et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

Table 3
Eigenvalues, percentage of variance, and attribute loadings for the rst three
principal components extracted by applying principal component analysis on
unfolded data matrix (Tucker-1, unrotated solution).
Principal component

PC-1

PC-2

PC-3

Eigenvalue
% of variance

7.1
50.6

1.7
11.8

1.2
8.9

Attributes/Loadingsa
Color description
Glossiness
Off-Color
Skin odor
Flesh odor
Sourness
Sweetness
Apple avor
Overripe avor
Waxy skin
Crunchiness
Hardness
Cohesiveness
Juiciness

0.700
0.628
0.685
0.603
0.152
0.768
0.108
0.153
0.927
0.747
0.882
0.910
0.913
0.926

0.059
0.436
0.137
0.102
0.790
0.270
0.517
0.620
0.023
0.055
0.215
0.175
0.059
0.026

0.237
0.270
0.106
0.514
0.110
0.151
0.494
0.603
0.041
0.016
0.275
0.204
0.203
0.187

a
Loading values greater than 0.60, considered large enough to be practically
signicant, are marked in bold.

signicant difference between the replications. The assessor 

replication interaction was signicant (p < 0.05) only for apple
avor.
The unfolded data matrix, derived from the 14 sensory
attributes which discriminated among the samples, was subjected
to PCA. The rst three extracted principal components had
eigenvalues larger than 1 (7.1, 1.7 and 1.2, respectively), but
according to the scree plot (the second point was the one where
eigenvalues stopped decreasing rapidly) and the component
matrix (only one attribute had PC-3 loading value about 6.0,
while all the rest were 0.5) only the rst two components were
retained explaining 62.4% of the variance in the data matrix values.
This decision was in accordance with guidelines provided by
Stevens (2009) for exploratory factor analysis, stating that for
number of measurements greater than 250 (Tucker-1 included 336
observations in our study) and a mean communality 0.60 (0.624
for the rst 2 components in our study), either the Kaiser or Scree
rules will yield an accurate estimate for the number of true
components. Table 3 contains the loading values for the rst three
extracted components. The un-rotated solution was left since it

showed the best arrangement of the loading values in comparison

with Varimax, Quartimax and Equamax rotations. Stevens (2009)
provided several criteria for making decision when a component/
factor is reliable. The third extracted component (PC-3) does not
comply with any of those criteria. The second one (PC-2) may be
considered reliable because the average of the four largest loadings
(=0.6) is very close to t the criteria of being above 0.60, while the
rst component (PC-1) is absolutely reliable according to the
loading values (even 11 loadings were >0.60 with 5 values >0.80).
Inspecting for signicance of attribute loadings by using guidelines
provided by Stevens (2009) and taking into account 336 individual
observations within unfolded data matrix, a loading value greater
than 0.60 was considered large enough to be practically signicant
in this case. According to Stevens (2009), assuming statistical
signicance of the loadings, one would want in general a variable
to share at least 15% of its variance with the construct (principal
component) which means using only loadings that are about 0.40
or greater for interpretation. A loading value which is about 0.60
indicates approximately 36% shared variance.
Fig. 1 shows attribute-loadings and sample-scores plots of the
rst two principal components. Individual scores were rst
averaged across the samples and then plotted. All of the evaluated
textural (waxy skin, crunchiness, hardness, cohesiveness and
juiciness) and appearance (color description, glossiness and
off-color) attributes together with skin odor, sourness and
overripe avor had high PC-1 loadings, indicating strong
correlations of these attributes with PC-1. Pneau et al. (2006)
studied the importance of freshness for the consumer and its
relationship to sensory properties of apples. The study included
4758 consumers and the authors concluded that sensory quality
descriptors of taste, crispiness and juiciness, are the most
important characteristic for the evaluation of freshness of apples,
emphasizing the importance of optimal texture when consumers
are evaluating freshness of table apples. In another study Pneau
et al. (2007) showed that texture attributes such as crispiness,
rmness, mealiness and juiciness are of particular importance for
the evaluation of apple freshness and concluded that the
evaluation of the freshness of an apple corresponds to the
measurement of its age by evaluating its textural quality, since
change of textural properties accompanies aging of the apple. The
same authors also argued that avor attributes are of less
importance for apple freshness. In our study PC-2 was the
component loaded heavily with apple avor and apple esh

Figure 1. Loadings (a) and scores (b) plots of the rst two principal components extracted by PCA on unfolded data matrix (Tucker-1, unrotated solution) obtained by
descriptive sensory analysis of Granny Smith apples. Abbreviations and the storage parameters are shown in Table 1.

N. Tomic et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

odor attributes (Table 3). Fillion and Kilcast (2000) indicated two
main factors involved in the concept of freshness of fruits and
vegetables: the rst is related to sensory properties such as
rmness, crispiness, appropriate bright color, absence of visual
defects, and absence of off-odors; and the second is the one that
assumes fresh products should have been recently picked or
harvested. Taking all of these ndings into account, the combination of original variables that load heavily on PC-1 in our study will
be referred to as the Freshness axis. The positive side of PC-1 was
inuenced by those attributes which large positive values are
related to increased freshness (juiciness, crunchiness, hardness,
cohesiveness, sourness), while the negative side is represented
by the attributes such as yellow color, off-color, overripe avor
and waxy skin which large positive values are related to decreased
freshness of Granny Smith cultivar.
According to the PCA plots (Fig. 1), 3-months stored Control
samples had apple avor and esh odor more pronounced than
DPA and 1-MCP treated apples of the same age. The rest of the
Control samples (6 months of storage) together with DPA samples
stored for 9 months are represented by overripe avor, yellow and
off color, waxy skin and pronounced skin odor on the far left side of
the scores plot. The samples on the far right side of the plot
(Control-3m, DPA-3m, 1MCP-3m, 1MCP-3m-1w and1MCP-3m-2w)
are represented by pronounced juiciness, cohesiveness, hardness,
crunchiness and green color. These samples, as a homogenous
subset at p < 0.05, had also signicantly higher sourness compared
to the rest (data not shown). All of the 1-MCP treated samples
practically appeared in the bottom right quadrant, i.e., on the
positive side of PC-1, indicating relatively low rate of juiciness,
cohesiveness, hardness, crunchiness, greenness and sourness
reduction during the observed period of storage as compared to
Control and DPA samples. Golding (2004) found that esh rmness
in non-treated (Control) and DPA treated Granny Smith apples

237

stored in air declined during storage, while in 1-MCP treated apples

stored in air esh rmness remained above 70 N for the entire
storage period (10 months at 0
C + 2 weeks at 20
C). Considering
loss of peel greenness, it was shown that the rate of yellowing of
the peel in Granny Smith cv. during the storage at 20
C, which is a
sign of senescence, can be signicantly inhibited by application of
1-MCP (Golding, 2004). Pre-Aymard et al. (2005) reported that 1MCP-treated Anna apple fruit retained rmness and acidity
during shelf life while these parameters decreased in Control
samples. Decrease in sourness during postharvest storage was also
detected in Golden apples stored for 19 weeks under ultralow
oxygen conditions in combination with cold air storage (Altisent
et al., 2011). All of the loading values for sweetness shown in
Table 3 were less than 0.6 indicating a small contribution of the
applied treatments to changes in this sensory property. PreAymard et al. (2005) also reported that 1-MCP treatment was
found to have no effect on sweetness.
PC1-ANOVA (samples = xed factor; assessors and replications = random factors) showed that only the sample as a main
effect and the sample  assessor and sample  replication interactions were statistically signicant (p < 0.05) for PC-1 i.e.,
Freshness (data not shown). Results from Tukey HSD post hoc
test are shown in Fig. 2 within the scores PCA-plot. The samples are
grouped in eight homogenous subsets at p < 0.05. The highest level
of freshness loss during the storage period was observed in Control
samples (the rst homogenous subset in Fig. 2). After the nine
months of storage, changes in control apples reached such a level
making the fruit inedible, which was the reason for excluding them
from subsequent sensory analysis. Furthermore, there were
statistically signicant differences in terms of Freshness among
all the Control samples evaluated over the observed period of time.
All of the samples are placed in different homogenous subsets
(Fig. 2). 1-MCP samples are grouped in the last four homogenous

Fig. 2. Results from Tukey HSD test applied on sample scores after PC1-ANOVA, graphed on PCA-scores plot. Numbers in brackets are related to homogenous subsets at
p < 0.05. Objects squared with dashed line represent overlaps. Abbreviations and the storage parameters are shown in Table 1.

238

N. Tomic et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

subsets indicating their relation to freshness throughout the whole

observed period of storage. Both 1-MCP-9m-1w and 1-MCP-9m2w samples were not signicantly different from DPA-6m and
DPA-3m-2w samples considering apple freshness. These samples
had signicantly higher freshness compared to Control-3m-2w.
Three months/1 week Control apples were of equal level of
freshness compared to 1-MCP-9m and 1-MCP-9m-1w samples.
According to these results it appears that the treatment of Granny
Smith apples with 1 MCP can extend the storage time in standard
NA storage for at least 3 months without signicantly losing
freshness even two weeks after being taking out from cold storage.
The samples in the 8th homogenous group on the far right side of
the plot (3_months Control and DPA samples and all 3_months 1MCP samples) showed the highest level of observed freshness. As
previously noted, the same group of samples represented a
homogenous subset (p < 0.05) with the highest level of observed
sourness (data not shown).
Results from PC1-ANOVA (treatments and stage of evaluation = xed factors; assessors = random factor) showed that
freshness was signicantly affected by both the treatments and
the periods of storage (p < 0.05). A replication effect was not
considered here because the results from the rst PC1-ANOVA
iteration and ANOVA applied on original attributes clearly stated
that this factor was not signicant. No effect of assessors (as a
main effect) on freshness scores was found. However, the
interaction stage  assessor was signicant. The stage  treatment
interaction prole plot is shown in Fig. 3. According to the mean
PC-1 values at the starting point (3m in Fig. 3) and the results of
Tukey HSD test for samples (Fig. 2), it appears that after 3 months
of standard NA storage at 01
C no differences can be found
between untreated (Control) and 1-MCP and DPA treated apples in
terms of freshness. As can be seen in Fig. 3, excluding the starting
point (3m), trends of treatments are consistent over different levels
of stage factor (1-MCP > DPA > Control), indicating in the rst
place a strong inuence of the 1-MCP treatment on freshness of
Granny Smith apples during the storage period. This means that
the trend for freshness over the storage time will vary depending
on the treatment applied. Negative changes in Freshness during

the storage period were more intensive in Control and DPA samples
than in 1-MCP treated fruit which indicates that the application of
1-MCP in apple fruit is more effective in preserving sensory
attributes related to apple freshness than the DPA treatment.
Early studies of purchasing habits and attitudes to selected
fruits found that the most of households (more than 50 %) bought
apples on the basis of texture and appearance (Fouras, 1974), which
are indicated as factors of freshness for fruits (Fillion and Kilcast,
2000; Pneau et al., 2007). Since buyers have no objective
measures of texture, decisions appear to be based on previous
experience, i.e., reputation (Schoorl and Holt, 1983). It is obvious
that appearance plays a signicant role in estimating apple
freshness and texture during purchasing, which means that it is of
essential importance to protect the fruit in the rst place from
supercial scald development during the period of storage. Fig. 4
represents the stage  treatment interaction prole plot obtained
by applying 3-way ANOVA on original off-color data set. As it can
be seen, the apples most resistant to scald forming were the apples
treated with 1-MCP. No scald was found in 1-MCP samples after 9
months of the cold storage. The same thing was observed in DPA
samples considering only those evaluated one day after removal
from the cold storage (3m, 6m and 9m). Fan et al. (1999) reported a
total absence of scald in 1-MCP treated Granny Smith apples after
6 months of storage plus ripening at 20
C for 7 d. Both 1-MCP and
DPA treated samples in the present research were color stable at
room temperature for the rst 2 weeks after 3 months of the cold
storage. However, during the period of maintaining the apples at
room temperature after 6 and 9 months of the cold storage, DPA
samples exhibited greater susceptibility to supercial scald
development than 1-MCP treated apples. In both cases (6m and
9m), at least one fourth of the apple surface on average was found
to be affected by scald in DPA treated samples after the rst week
kept at room temperature. Moggia et al. (2010) reported that the
application of 1-MCP signicantly reduced the incidence of the
color disorder in Granny Smith apples during 6 months at 0
C
plus 7 d at room temperature, but did not resulted in complete
control. During the rst two weeks at room temperature after 6
months cold storage, 1-MCP treated samples suffered

Fig. 3. Stage of evaluation by treatment interaction prole plot as a result of 3-way PC1-ANOVA (treatments and stage = xed factors; assessors = random factor).
Abbreviations and the storage parameters are shown in Table 1.

N. Tomic et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 112 (2016) 233240

239

Fig. 4. Stage of evaluation by treatment interaction prole plot as a result of 3-way ANOVA applied on original off-color data (treatments and stage = xed factors;
assessors = random factor). The score of 5 is equivalent to one third of the apple surface. Abbreviations and the storage parameters are shown in Table 1.

approximately 1015% of supercial scald, in the present study.

Scald development was intensive in Control samples during the
observed period after 3 months of the cold storage. The mean offcolor value for Control-6m samples (4.0-app. 26% of the apple
surface) was not signicantly different (p > 0.05) from the DPA-6m2w (6.4-app. 42%), DPA-9m-1w (3.5-app. 23%), DPA-9m-2w (6.1app. 40%) and Control-3m-2w (5.0-app. 33 %) counterparts,
indicating relatively high level of the apple browning after 6
months of cold storage without application of the protective
treatments. After 9 months of cold storage changes in sensory
quality in Control samples were of such a level that apples were not
suitable for sensory analysis. These results are in accordance with
the ndings of Golding (2004) who investigated the inuence of 1MCP on apple quality during storage. Untreated (Control) Granny
Smith apples in that research, stored in both air and controlled
atmosphere (CA), suffered supercial scald development within 4
months of storage, while after 10 months storage untreated air and
CA stored fruit both developed high levels of scald (the air stored
fruit had signicantly higher scald levels in both cases). In addition,
the untreated control Granny Smith fruit were totally decayed
after 10 months at 0
C and two weeks storage at 20
C. On the
other hand, in all cases, both 1-MCP and DPA treated fruit did not
develop any scald symptoms at any removal in any storage regime
(Golding, 2004).
4. Conclusion
Sensory properties of cold stored Granny Smith apples are
inuenced by storage time and postharvest pre-storage fruit
protective treatments such as 1-MCP and DPA. The multivariate
statistical approach used to analyze the descriptive sensory
evaluation data in this research revealed that the combination of
original variables, which loaded heavily on PC-1 (such as
juiciness, crunchiness, hardness, cohesiveness, color, offcolor, overripe avor, waxy skin, glossiness, sourness), could
be referred to as the Freshness axis. Three-way analysis of
variance applied on PC-1, i.e., Freshness, scores for samples (PCANOVA), showed that 1-MCP treated samples had relatively low

rates of juiciness, cohesiveness, hardness, crunchiness, greenness

and sourness reduction during the 9 months of cold storage as
compared to untreated control and DPA samples. The highest
level of freshness loss during the storage period was observed in
Control samples, which were found totally decayed and not
suitable for consumption after 9 months of cold storage. The
applied treatments made only small contributions to changes in
sweetness. The most resistant to scald forming were the apples
treated with 1-MCP, no scald was found after 9 months of cold
storage. DPA samples were color stable as observed after 3, 6 and
9 months of cold storage, but exhibited greater susceptibility to
supercial scald development than 1-MCP treated apples during
8 and 15 days of keeping the fruit at room temperature after 6 and
9 months of cold storage. According to the sensory testing it
appears that the treatment of Granny Smith apples with 1-MCP
can extend the storage time in standard NA storage for at least 3
months without signicantly losing freshness even two weeks
after removal from cold storage. This study showed that the
application of 1-MCP in apple fruit is more effective in preserving
sensory attributes related to apple freshness when compared
with the DPA treatment.
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