• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.902-911
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• 2010

Oriental melon ($Cucumis$ $melo$ var. $makuwa$) is a popular and high-value market fruit cultivated in Korea. Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in oriental melon as a healthy diet over the past few years. However, the melons have relatively high quality loss because the fruit are mainly produced for a limited period of time in the summer season. Lack of the proper postharvest treatments and high temperature exposure at harvest or during distribution are the most critical environmental factors limiting postharvest life of fruit. This review focuses on the overview of current research studies for postharvest treatment and functional packaging technology of oriental melon in Korea. Major physiological problems of the harvest fruit include the ripening process in quality changes of the produce such as loss of weight, firmness, flavor, and decay during the storage periods. Low temperature at 7 to $10^{\circ}C$ with high relative humidity of 90 to 95% is the suitable environmental condition used to maintain the quality of fresh oriental melon. Controlled atmosphere (CA) storage or modified atmosphere (MA) packaging can be used as supplemental treatments to extend postharvest-life. For oriental melon, an optimum CA is currently recommended to be 2-3% oxygen and 5-10% carbon dioxide atmosphere. Precooling, pretreatments of ethylene action and functional packaging system can be applied to oriental melon after harvest in order to extend storage life. Major active packaging technologies are concerned with a selectively gas permeable film related to respiration of produce and the packaging applications of ethylene removal, antimicrobial, and antifogging substances to keep the effective freshness of fruit.

• Journal of Mushroom
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.131-139
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• 2018

The king oyster mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) is widely consumed because of its flavor, texture, and its functional properties such as antioxidant activity and prebiotic effects. However, long-term product storage and transportation (e.g., export) are difficult because of its limited durability. The shelf-life of king oyster mushroom is affected by environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, gas composition, and ventilation, which may affect sensory characteristics including respiration rate, texture, moisture, flavor, color, and pH. The major problems regarding storage of mushrooms are browning, flavor changes, and softening. To address these problems, novel preservation techniques were developed, and more durable variants were bred. Different drying methods, gamma irradiation, chitosan coating, modified atmosphere (MA) packaging, and controlled atmosphere (CA) storage were evaluated in order to extend the shelf-life of king oyster mushrooms. Freeze drying showed better results for the preservation of mushrooms than other drying methods. Irradiation with 1 kGy was more effective for extending mushroom shelf-life than higher doses. The preservative performance of chitosan-based films was improved by combining the compound with other hydrocolloids, such as oil, protocatechuic acid, and wax. The CA storage conditions recommended for king oyster mushrooms are 5kPa $O_2$ and 10 to 15kPa $CO_2$ at temperatures below $10^{\circ}C$. Active MA packaging with microperforated PP film was also effective for maintaining quality during storage.