Research Results

Ripening stage of melons

In the GreenCHAINge project research focus was on getting a better grip on the quality of melon to get high-quality and ready-to-enjoy fruits for consumers. This research result describes how the ripening stage of melons can be determined by measuring the emission of gasses by the ripening melon.

Volatilomics studies which volatile organic compounds are emitted by a product at a given time. Illustration made by Daria Chrobok/DC SciArt for WUR

Objective

Ripening of temperature depends on the time and temperature in the postharvest supply chain. The objective of this part of the research was to determine which production of volatile organic compounds, gasses that are emitted by the fruit because of its internal metabolic processes, is correlated with the ripening process.

Result & Conclusions

The research was performed on the popular melon cultivar Natal. Key volatiles related to ripening are acetaldehyde, various esters, and ethanol, which are fruity odours that relate to fruit ripening. Production of these volatiles appeared to decrease during storage, irrespective of storage temperatures. Melons release more aroma volatiles at 22 °C (supermarket & at home) than at 4 °C (storage & transport). When melons are relased from storage, accelerated ripening takes place. This is the higher for melons stored at 4 °C than for melons stored at 7 °C or 10 °C.

Photo and graphs by WUR

Take away message

The monitoring of aroma volatile production of melons allows for optimal timing of harvest, storage and point-of-sale moments in the supply chain.

This project was commissioned and funded by Frankort & Koning and
East-West Seed and cofunded by Top Sector for Horticulture & Starting Materials.

More detailed information about this research result can be found at:
https://edepot.wur.nl/563036

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