Currently, very few studies have investigated possi
ble nonchemical control of scald during storage. It is
known that scald development depends on the harvest
date. Apples harvested too early are particularly prone
to scald. However, even when harvesting fruit on the
recommended date, it is not always possible to avoid
scald. Thus, indicators should be worked out for pre
dicting scald development that would show whether
chemical treatment is needed during harvesting. Max
imum treatment is often unnecessary, because scald
susceptibility is extremely variable. For 20 years after
the approval of antioxidant chemicals, little further
attention was given to this problem. Currently, the
interest is renewed due to the need to reduce the use of
chemicals wherever possible. It has been previously
demonstrated [3] that heat treatment of 38°C for
2 days slowed the development of scald in fruit stored
for 3 months, although by 6 months of storage it
reached the same levels as in control apples. Heating
for 4 days was effective in preventing scald for the first
3 months of storage. However, after 6 months of stor
age, scald incidence averaged 50%. It was also revealed
that fruit harvested on other days and heated for 4 days
were not fully protected from scald. Depending on har
vest dates, this type of treatment is not effective in inhib
iting scald. Therefore, it can substitute for chemical
treatment of scald for only shortterm fruit storage.
The purpose of the present study was to work out
new nonchemical control of scald during storage.
METHO