Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2010
Introduction. Vietnam is among the world's top 20 mango producing countries.In this country, the ‘cat Hoa loc’ variety is predominant, with 17 692 ha undercultivation with an annual production of 58 471 t; it is considered to be the best mangovariety in the Mekong delta. Ripening of the fruit is typically expressed by a skin colourchange from green to bright yellow. This variety is highly prized by local and foreignconsumers, but subject to different disorders, especially fruit fly infestations. Heattreatment is a safe alternative to chemical treatments. It can impair mould developmentand control fruit infestation by destroying fruit fly eggs and larvae. It may have agreater or lesser effect on fruit physiology. If the treatment temperature and durationare incorrectly handled, skin burns may result and the internal quality of the fruit maybe affected. Materials and methods. ’Cat Hoa loc’ mangoes at the commerciallymature stage were subjected to hot air treatment (47 °C and 90% RH) of different durations[(0, 20, 40, 60, 90, 120 and 180) min from the fruit core attaining the temperature].After treatment, the fruits were stored at 25 °C and quality parameters evaluated (weightloss, peel and flesh colour, percentages of fruit with burns and rots, burn index,ripening percentage, firmness, TSS, TA, vitamin C content, pH, reducing and total sugars,and taste test). Results and discussion. For the ‘cat Hoa loc’variety, heat treatment accelerated ripening of the fruit in the initial storage periodand colour changes occurred more quickly. However, after 7 days' storage, the differencein Hue value between the treated and control fruits disappeared. Hot air treatment at47 °C of different durations [(20 to180) min] did not affect the internal colorationchanges of ‘cat Hoa loc’ mangoes, but did affect the flesh firmness. We found that, after3 d, hot air treatment at 47 °C led to significantly faster weight loss than controlfruits but this difference disappeared after 7 d. Total sugar content was not affected bythe treatment, but titratable acidity decreased more quickly in treated fruits.