NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE IMAGING OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILLING INJURY IN FUYU PERSIMMON (DIOSPYROS-KAKI)

Development of chilling injury in individual persimmon fruit was monit ored over a 7-week period using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imagi ng. At commercial harvest, fruit of the non-astringent cultivar, 'Fuyu ', were divided into two treatments-one in which samples were sealed i n individual polyethylene bags, and another without bags (control). St orage conditions were 0-degrees-C for 6 weeks. Proton NMR images (0.39 mm resolution) of transverse and longitudinal sections were obtained weekly using a standard Hahn spin-echo pulse sequence (T(E) = 30 ms, T (R) = 500 ms) on a 0.5 Tesla whole-body scanner. There was limited NMR evidence to support development of chilling injury in fruit from eith er treatment during cold storage. After removal to ambient temperature s however, injury developed rapidly causing fruit to be inedible withi n 1 week. Changes observed non-invasively during the period of degrada tion were consistent with visual observations describing the developme nt of the disorder in this crop.