Heat treatment to control brown rot and preserve the fruit quality of peaches

In order to evaluate the efficacy of a hot water (HW) treatment against postharvest diseases of peaches, four varieties ‘Springebelle’, ‘Rich Lady’, ‘Symphonie’ and ‘Benedicte® Meydicte*’ were dipped for 20 sec in water at 60°C. After treatment fruits were stored at 0°C for 4 days, followed by other 4 days of shelf life. Fruit dipped in water at room temperature represented positive control (PC) and fruits no dipped in water were negative control (NC). The HW treatment reduced significantly brown rot in naturally infected peaches with a decay reduction of around 80%. The HW treatment significantly affected also the epiphytic microflora population, in fact on HW treated fruits the fungal population was reduced by 70%, the yeast population by 20% and the bacteria population was completely inhibited with respect PC treated fruits. In addition the physico-chemical analysis showed no substantially differences between HW, PC and NC treated fruits, but only a slight improvement in acceptability for HW treated fruits. Since our results, HW treatment may have commercial application in the control of brown rot, reducing the pathogen inoculum and microflora population on fruit surface, keeping quality and prolonging shelf life in several varieties of peaches. HW treatment seems a potential postharvest successful mean to reduce brown rot in peach, maintaining fruit quality.