PROLONGED LOW-TEMPERATURE STORAGE OF EGGPLANTS IN POLYETHYLENE BAGS

The quality of eggplant fruit (Solanum melongena L.) during prolonged storage may be impaired by the susceptibility of the fruits to deterio ration and chilling injury at low temperature (<10 degrees C). This wo rk shows that eggplants harvested during winter (December-January) wer e more susceptible to chilling injury than those harvested during spri ng (March-April). Storing disinfected eggplant fruits inside an unperf orated polyethylene (PE) bag enabled them to be stored at 8 degrees C for more than three weeks without sustaining any chilling injury, wher eas disinfected but unbagged control fruits showed severe chilling inj ury. The cooling rate of the bag-packed fruit was significantly slower than that of the control fruit, and the temperature of the fruit pack ed in bags was always maintained at 0.5-1.0 degrees C above the storag e temperature.