Introduction. Because of the long transportation times and storage durationsthat are often experienced, it is important to understand how pomelo properties changeover time; that will be indicative of how long samples can be stored before they dropbelow acceptable quality limits. As no information is available regarding storage ofpomelo fruit in the literature, the goal of our work was to study the change in pomelophysicochemical and textural properties following storage over a period of approximately4 months. Materials and methods. The changes in physical, chemical andtextural properties of commercial pomelo fruit were extensively evaluated over the courseof a 4-month storage period. The correlation among physical, color, chemical and texturalproperties were also assessed. Results. Color properties(L*, a*, b*) changed significantly withstorage; however, they did not change much during the initial 45 days of storage. Thechange in soluble solids content (SSC), acidity (A) and the [(SSC) / (A)] ratio suggestedthat pomelo fruit should not be stored for more than 75 days. Crucially, our studydemonstrates that the a* parameter (greenness, R = –0.556) correlatesbest with the chemical property the [(SSC) / (A)] ratio, which is a recognized measurementof the consumer acceptability of citrus fruit. This means that measuringa* is a non-destructive way of monitoring the taste characteristics ofpomelos in storage. This property also correlated well with the average firmness of thefruit and with the flesh texture. Conclusion. This fundamental information onthe pomelo fruit could prove useful in the physical handling and processing of the fruitby breeders and postharvest technologists as well as distributors, market agents,importers and exporters.

Introduction. Several studies have demonstrated that foodprocessing affects nutrients such as bioactive compounds, protein, starch, fat, fiber,minerals and antioxidant capacity. Our study examined how heat changes the physicochemicalcomposition and antioxidant capacity of peach-palm fruit (Bactrisgasipaes H.B.K.) during flour production. Materials and methods.Five commercial batches of fruit were assessed for total contents of phenolic compoundsand carotenoids, and hydrophilic oxygen radical absorbance capacity (H-ORAC). The fruitwas then cooked and eventually processed into flour. Results and discussion.No significant changes were found for contents of fat, protein, starch and dietary fiberduring flour production. Cooked peach-palm fruit is a source of Mg, Mn, Cu and K, with100 g of fruit containing between 5% and 13.5% of the recommended daily intake. Cookingalso increased carotenoids by 17%, thus helping to compensate for the 28% loss duringdrying. No stage of processing affected polyphenol contents or H-ORAC.Conclusion. Because of its high bioactive compound content, peach-palmflour shows potential for use in the development of functional foods.

Introduction. The Chinese jujubetree always presents some unfavorable performances because its vegetativegrowth is very vigorous. Our study was conducted to apply root pruning totest whether it can effectively inhibit the vigorous vegetative growthby regulating the competitive ability of the root system for waterand nutrients. Materials and methods. For our experiment,roots were cut at three different distances from the trunk (light,moderate and severe root pruning) on both inter-row sides of jujubetrees to the depth of 20 cm. Roots of control jujube trees werenot pruned. Then we determined for three years the competitive indicatorsof Chinese jujube trees including the length, number and thicknessof primary branches; photosynthetic characteristics and nutrientconcentrations of leaves; hormone contents in the jujube head, flowernumber and fruiting percentage, yield, and fruit quality. Resultsand discussion. In the early stage after root treatment,root pruning decreased lots of indicators such as concentrationsof nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in leaves, photosynthesis, transpiration,stomatal conductance, and intercellular CO2 concentrationof leaves, relative to the same indicators as the control group. Withthe gradual emergence of new roots, these indexes appeared to have adversepatterns with respect to those in the early stage after root pruning. Comparedwith the control, root pruning significantly decreased the lengthand number of primary branches and flower number, but thickenedprimary branches, enhanced fruiting percentage and increased the amountof ethylene release of the jujube head in the whole experiment.Fruit quality was improved with root pruning, as indicated by increasesin vitamin C and total sugar and a decrease in titrable acidity.No effects of root pruning were noticed on yield. From our results,we conclude that the removal of the root system at a distance ofthree times the trunk diameter (severe pruning) from the trunk isthe most effective in regulating the competitive ability of theChinese jujube tree.

Introduction. Quarantine heat treatments have not yet beenintroduced in West Africa and no work has been done to determine the treatment conditionsneeded to eliminate eggs and larvae of West African fruit fly populations, especially ofthe new species Bactrocera invadens, from mangoes produced in the region.The objective of our study was to carry out hot water disinfestation experiments onnaturally infested mangoes to determine the exposure parameters required to kill eggs andlarvae of B. invadens present in commercial-quality fruits. The effects of hot watertreatment on fruit quality were also investigated. Materials and methods. Atank with a heating element and a water pump equipped with a tank sensor were used.Physiologically mature, hard, green mango fruits (cv. Kent) with potential export qualitybut infested by B. invadens were harvested from plantations in theBobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso) area. The effect of hot water treatment by immersion at42.0 °C, 46.5 °C or 51.0 °C was evaluated by counting identifiable sites of fruit flyoviposition before and after paring the fruit and, finally, the numbers of live and deadlarvae of B. invadens were counted in the pulp. The quality of the fruitwas evaluated after the hot water immersion. Results and discussion. A hotwater treatment resulting in a core temperature of 46.5 °C could be the basis of a fruitfly quarantine treatment for West African mangoes produced in Burkina Faso. All of thelarvae extracted from the fruits treated at 46.5 °C and 51.0 °C were dead, while, in fruittreated at 42.0 °C, only about one-third of the larvae extracted were dead.

Introduction. The aim of this work was to develop a list ofsuitable sensory attributes and to perform sensory quality assessment of an unprocessedpeach juice and a peach juice clarified by enzymatic treatment followed by membraneprocesses, using the attributes chosen by the trained panel. Materials andmethods. A panel of assessors was selected and trained following the quantitativedescriptive analysis methodology. A descriptive terminology with eight descriptors wassuccessfully developed. Results and discussion. The sensory analysis showedthat the juices were effectively clarified. Although the clarification by microfiltrationin a bench-scale unit did not change juice taste attributes, the characteristic color andaroma of peach juice were also removed. The scale-up of the membrane clarification processaffected all the sensory characteristics of the clarified juice, even taste. Theunpleasant cooked fruit taste and aroma could be reduced by juice clarification byenzymatic and membrane processes. The kind of membrane, membrane geometry andtransmembrane pressure used in the membrane clarification did not significantly affect thejuice sensory characteristics.

Introduction. Optimising agricultural water use implies thecombination of physiological, technological and engineering techniques, especially thosefor continuously monitoring the water status of plants subjected to deficit irrigation. Amethodology to estimate water stress of young almond trees from thermal images wasdeveloped based on assessing the physiological status of almond crops under limitedwater-supply conditions. Materials and methods. Two irrigation treatmentswere tested during the maximum evapotranspirative demand period (214th to the 243rd day ofthe year) in an experimental almond [Prunus dulcis (Mill) D.A. Webb, cv.Guara] orchard: a low-frequency deficit irrigation (LFDI) treatment, irrigated accordingto the plant-water status, and a fully irrigated treatment (C100) at 100% of cropevapotranspiration. Daily canopy temperature at midday (TC) was measured with an infraredcamera, together with standard measurements of stem-water potential (ΨStem) and stomatalconductance (gS). The time course of these parameters and their relationships wereanalysed. Results and discussion. The time course of the parameters studiedshowed highly significant correlations among the differentials of canopy-air temperature(ΔT), ΨStem and gS. The methodological protocol for analysing thermal images allowed atime saving in processing information and additionally offered the possibility ofestimating the ΨStem and gS values. Conclusion. Our results confirm thatinfrared thermography is a suitable technique for assessing the crop-water status and canbe used as an important step towards automated plant-water stress management in almondorchards.