Each fruit was placed in a plastic container and connected to a flowboard through which an 80–85% RH air stream passed. Flow rates were adequate to maintain CO2 below 0.5% to prevent physiological disorders caused by accumulation of CO2 inside the containers. Carbon dioxide concentrations were analyzed by injecting 1 mL gaseous samples from the head space of each container into an infrared gas analyzer (Model PIR-2000, Horiba Instruments, Inc., Irvine, CA) equipped with an
OmniScribet chart recorder (Western Scientific Assoc., Danville, CA). Experiments were replicated three times for each treatment and observations were taken at 2-day intervals for 18 days.