Journal of Taiwan Agricultural Research

Author:Chao-Chia Huang*, Huey-Suey Huang and Chin-Yu Tsai

Abstract:

    Shortage in the supply of vegetables during typhoon season has been a serious problem in Taiwan. Large quantities of cabbage are stored each summer as one of the means to overcome this problem. The storage life of ‘Chu-chiu’ cabbage stored under conventional method was about 2 months. It is unlikely to store March harvested ‘Chu-chiu’ cabbage, which are cheap and abundant, over the spring and release them at the typhoon season. However, it is possible to use controlled atmosphere (CA) storage to further extend the storage life of cabbage. This paper presents the result of three years (1996-1998) study on the CA storage of cabbage by using sealed plastic tent inside a cold storage room. A 2m Î 2m Î 2m tent made of LDPE was set up inside a 0-1℃ cold room. The composition of atmosphere within the tent was maintained at 2-6% oxygen (mostly at 3%) and 3-5% carbon dioxide (mostly at 5%). Ethylene concentration was controlled below 0.1ppm using an ethylene scrubber. Due to lack of ventilation, the temperature inside the tent was always about 0.7℃ higher than outside. Our result indicated that ‘Chu-chiu’ cabbage, the major cultivar grown in Taiwan, had an average storage life of 2 months under conventional cold storage at 0-1℃. Factors responsible for the termination of storage life include: high weight loss, high trim loss, inferior color and freshness. Storage life of cabbage was extended to 4 months by using controlled atmosphere tent and the factors mentioned above were reduced effectively under CA. Other quality attributes including loss of flavor and rooting at cut end were also better controlled under CA. No difference was noted with regard to the occurrence of auxiliary buds. No significant differences were observed, with respect to weight loss, trim loss and post-storage quality, between using carton boxes or plastic baskets for storing cabbage under CA. However, carton boxes became soften and difficult to handle due to absorption of moisture. The storage life of another summer cabbage ‘Sha-fung’ was also about 2 months in cold storage and was extended to 3 months under CA storage. Its storage life was terminated due to hollow stem and stem browning.

Key words:Cabbage, Controlled atmosphere storage

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