Mass loss of the fruits
Fruits in the control sample stored for 30 days at 13 ºC and 90% RH presented 10% of mass loss (Figure 1). For the fruits stored at 21% O2 and 0.03% CO2 with ethylene scrubby, the mass loss decreased (5.22%). In both treatments at high oxygen concentration, there were some damages in the fruits that impaired the determination of mass loss after their removal from the atmosphere chamber and storage for 9 days under refrigeration.
At 30 days of storage, the lowest mass loss occurred in fruits stored at 5% O2 and 15% CO2. In atmospheres with traces of CO2, there was a tendency to reduce mass loss in fruits stored at 1% O2 (Figure 1). Therefore, the lower O2 levels caused a tendency to minimize the mass loss, but it was effectively minimized with the increase in the CO2 level, even at higher O2 concentrations
There was an increase in the mass loss in the fruits evaluated after their removal from the atmosphere chamber and storage for 9 days under refrigeration, but the values were proportional to those observed at 30 days of storage. Again, the lowest mass loss was observed in fruits stored under atmosphere with 5% O2 and 15% CO2. This is because the metabolism rate was affected by the atmosphere composition, even after the fruits' removal from the chambers.