• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.399-405
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• 2011

In this study, we evaluated the fruit quality indices and the incidence of physiological disorders of Korean new pear cultivar 'Whasan' to determine appropriate harvest time for exportation and to enhance storability and shelf-life of the fruits during simulated exportation and extending market environment under different temperature conditions. In the experiment of simulated exportation headed for North America including Canada and U.S.A., the fruits transported at $1^{\circ}C$ showed less weight loss than those of $5^{\circ}C$. Market temperature appeared as a key factor for keeping freshness of exported pear fruits rather than transportation temperature. Quality factors such as high flesh firmness and low incidence of fruit rot and physiological disorders including core breakdown and pithiness were attained at the fruits maintained at $18^{\circ}C$ when we compared with $25^{\circ}C$. The fruits of harvested early maturity at 135 day after full bloom showed 28.6 N of flesh firmness when the fruits stored at $1^{\circ}C$ of transportation and $18^{\circ}C$ of market temperature, while the fruits progressed $5^{\circ}C$ of transportation and $25^{\circ}C$ of market temperature dropped to 24.2 N during 30 days of shelf life. Also, a high incidences of physiological disorders and of fruit decay rates were obvious in the fruits distributed at $25^{\circ}C$ were observed approximately two times higher than the those of $18^{\circ}C$. Therefore, temperature management during marketing resulted as an important point for maintaining fruits quality in the process of pear fruit exportation.