QUALITY OF FRESH-MARKET MELTING-FLESH AND NONMELTING-FLESH PEACH GENOTYPES AS AFFECTED BY POSTHARVEST CHILLING

After storage for 3 wk at 4 degrees C and ripening 3 days at 20 degree s C, nonmelting-flesh peaches ('Oro A', FL 90-35C, FL 90-47C) did not develop visual symptoms of mealiness, while melting-flesh (MF) fruit ( FL 90-20, FL 90-21, FL 91-16) did, Sensory evaluation showed that only MF fruit were more ''mealy'' and less ''sweet'' and ''peachy'' as a r esult of chilling. Volatile analysis revealed that chilling caused inc reases in (E)-2-hexenal and decreases in gamma- and delta-decalactones in both MF and NMF types. However, the decline was considerably less in NMF than in MF fruit. Results indicate that chilling affects the qu ality of MF more than NMF genotypes.