Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
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Research Note

Effect of temperature on chilling injury, decay and quality of

Hami melon during storage
Bi Yang a,b, Tian Shiping b,*, Lui Hongxia a, Zhao Jie a, Cao Jiankang a,
Li Yongcai a, Zhang Weiyi c
a
Department of Food Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China
b
Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100093, China
c
Department of Food Science, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumchi 830052, China

Received 31 July 2002; accepted 8 May 2003

Abstract

Among three Hami melon (Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus Jacq.) cultivars (Kalakusai, 8601 and New Queen), there
were clear differences in sensitivity to chilling injury (CI) during storage at 22 and 1 8C. After 10 weeks storage and 1
week shelf life at 1 8C, CI was high in Kalakusai fruit. At 3 8C, 8601 fruit developed CI after 7 weeks storage and 1 week
shelf life. At 5 8C, CI was observed in New Queen fruit after 3 weeks storage and 1 week shelf life. Storage for 10 weeks
at 3 8C, 7 weeks at 5 8C, and 3 weeks at 7 8C resulted in the lowest incidence of decay and the highest percentage of
marketable fruit for Kalakusai, 8601 and New Queen melons, respectively. Principal fungi isolated from decayed fruit
were Fusarium spp., Alternaria spp., Rhizopus spp., Mucor mucedo and Trichothecium roseum . The fruit held at lower
temperature had better appearance, less browning and were firmer.
# 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Keywords: Hami melon; Chilling injury (CI); Decay; Quality; Storage temperature

1. Introduction usually purchased because of their large size, oval

Hami melon (Cucumis melo L. var. inodorus
Jacq.) is the most important melon crop grown in
the northwestern provinces of China. There are
more than 100 cultivars which are adapted only to
areas with long, dry growing seasons. The fruit are
* Corresponding author. Tel.: /86-10-6259-1431; fax: /86-
10-8259-6475.
E-mail address: shiping@95777.com (T. Shiping).
0925-5214/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.
doi:10.1016/S0925-5214(03)00104-2
shape, good taste and crispy flesh texture. How-
ever, losses are high due to limited use of
refrigeration and absence of effective postharvest
treatments (Bi and Zhang, 1991). Temperature is
usually the most important environmental factor
limiting postharvest life of fruit and vegetables,
and there is little information available for Hami
melon. Xu et al. (1990) observed that Hami melon
(cv. Kalakusai) was susceptible to chilling injury
(CI) at 0
/2 8C, although they did not find a
relationship between chilling temperature and
230 B. Yang et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
/232
time. Morris et al. (2001) reported on the main
postharvest diseases in Hami melon, but did not
obtain information for responses at low tempera-
ture. The objective of this study was to determine
the storage quality potential of three main Hami
melon cultivars, New Queen (early-maturing),
8601 (middle-maturing) and Kalakusai (late-ma-
turing) in the temperature range of 1
/22 8C.
2. Materials and methods
Mature fruit of New Queen (42
/43 days after
anthesis) and 8601 (55
/56 days after anthesis)
were obtained from Huangdun State Farm, Dun-
huang, Gansu, and fruit of Kalakusai (66
/67 days
after anthesis) were harvested from Milan State
Farm, Kuele, Xinjiang, during 1997 and 1998. The
fruit were sorted for uniform size and absence of
obvious injuries, packed individually in 35 cm long
net bags of foam plastic (Fulihau Plastic Products
Co. Ltd, Lanzhou), put in the standard melon
shipping boxes (4 melons/box) and transported to
Lanzhou. New Queen and 8601 fruit were in
storage within 48 h of harvest, and Kalakusai
fruit were stored within 72 h.
Fruit in boxes were placed in a cool room and
maintained at the desired temperature 9/0.5 8C
with 809/5% RH. New Queen melons were stored
at 3, 5, 7 or 22 8C for 3 weeks plus one additional
week at a room temperature of 22
/24 8C. 8601
fruit were stored at 3, 5, 7 or 18 8C for 7 weeks plus
one additional week at 18
/19 8C. Kalakusai fruit
were stored at 1, 3, 5 and 16 8C for 10 weeks plus
one additional week at 16 8C. There were 16 fruit
for each treatment with three replications. The
experiment was conducted over 2 years.
All fruit were evaluated for CI according to the
scale: (1) no CI; (2) CI area 5/10%; (3) CI area
from 11 to 25%; (4) CI area from 26 to 50%; (5) CI
area ]/50%. CI of the melon surface is expressed
as brownish pitting and water-soaked areas. Decay
was determined as surface fungal growth on the
stem end and the rind. Fungi associated with rots
were isolated, and plated onto potato-dextrose
agar with and without added lactic acid. The
isolates were identified and tested for pathogeni-
city by wounding with a spore suspension. The
melons were considered acceptable for market
when no more than two lesions (diameter 5/2
cm) were found on the fruit. Appearance was
scored as: (1) good, fruit without of trace damage;
(2) fair, fruit with moderate damage; (3) poor, fruit
with severe damage. The extent of browning was
estimated as described by Carter (1981): (1) no
browning; (2) slight browning; (3) moderate
browning; (4) severe browning; (5) excessive
browning. TSS was determined by squeezing juice
from the central section of flesh directly onto a
hand-held refractometer (model 10481 S/N, USA).
Three readings were taken for each melon. Firm-
ness was measured using a hand-held firmometer
(FT-327, Italy), equipped with a 8-mm plunger tip,
at the stem end area of the fruit where a section of
rind (4 /4 cm and :/1 cm deep) had been
removed and three readings were taken for each
melon.
All data were statistically analyzed using analy-
sis of variance, and Duncan’s multiple range test
was used to separate means.
3. Results and discussion
Among the three cultivars, there were clear
differences in sensitivity to CI during storage at
different temperatures between 22 and 1 8C (Table
1). After 10 weeks storage and 1 week shelf life at
1 8C, CI was high in Kalakusai fruit. At 3 8C this
cultivar had no CI, whereas 8601 fruit developed
CI after 7 weeks storage and 1 week shelf life. At
5 8C, CI was observed on New Queen fruit after 3
weeks storage and 1 week shelf life; however both
Kalakusai and 8601 fruit had no CI at this
temperature. The results indicated that the middle
or late-maturing cultivars of Hami melon had
more tolerance to CI. The relative tolerance of
middle or late-maturing cultivars to low tempera-
ture is perhaps due to the lower temperature
experienced during late stages of fruit growth
inducing an adaptive resistance to chilling stress
(Wang, 1993). It seems that temperatures of 3
/
7 8C are preferable for long-term storage of Hami
melon.
Hami melon were more susceptible to decay at
room temperature than at lower temperature.
 B. Yang et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
/232 231

Table 1
Effect of temperature on chilling injury rating (CIR), decay and percentage of marketable fruit, of Hami melon during storage

Cultivars Temperature (8C) CIR Decay (%) Marketable fruit (%)

New Queen 3 2.7 b 41.9 a 65.1 b

22 1.0 a 75.2 b 31.0 a
8601 3 3.2 b 60.2 a 56.7 b
18 1.0 a 82.0 b 26.4 a
Kalakusai 1 3.6 b 55.7 a 58.0 b
16 1.0 a 68.3 b 42.7 a

Different letters in each column indicate significant differences as determined by the Duncan’s multiple range test (P /0.05).

Storage at 3 8C for 10 weeks, 5 8C for 7 weeks and
7 8C for 3 weeks resulted in the lowest incidence of
decay and the highest percentage of marketable
fruit for Kalakusai, 8601 and New Queen fruit
respectively (Table 1). The sensitivity of fruit to
rots was also dependent on cultivar. Kalakusai
fruit had a lower incidence of decay during storage
compared with fruit of New Queen and 8601
cultivars. Principal fungi isolated from decayed
fruit were Fusarium spp., Alternaria spp., Rhizo-
pus spp., Mucor mucedo and Trichothecium ro-
seum . Minor pathogens included Cladosporium
spp., Penicillium spp. and Geotrichum candidum .
Fusarium rot had the highest incidence, occurring
at the stem-end, and in cracks and nets on the rind.
Alternaria rot occurred in the nets on the rind and
at the sites of CI. Rhizopus and Mucor rots were
mainly associated with mechanical damage of the
melon surface. Trichothecium rots were found at
the stem-end, flower-end and on the sides of the
fruit. At room temperature, Fusarium, Rhizopus,
and Trichothecium rots were more serious, while
at lower temperature, Fusarium, Alternaria and
Mucor rots were more significant. The study
showed that the fungi causing decay of Hami
melon were similar to other types of melon in
other published studies (Wade and Morris, 1982;
Ceponis et al., 1986; Snowdon, 1990).
Hami melon were of better quality when held at
at lower temperature (Table 2). New Queen fruit
had a moderate appearance at 5 and 7 8C, whereas
8601 fruit had better appearance at 5 8C. There
were no TSS differences among storage tempera-
tures and New Queen and 8601 fruit had less
browning and were firmer at lower temperature.
Kalakusai fruit stored at 1 8C were firmer and no
appearance, browning or TSS differences were
found among the different storage temperatures.
The results from this study suggest that 7, 5 and
3 8C was the optimum storage temperature for
early, middle and late-maturing Hami melon
cultivars respectively. These data largely agree
with the recommendations of Hardenburg et al.
(1986) for melon storage.

Table 2
Effect of temperature on quality characteristics of Hami melon

Cultivars Temperature (8C) Appearance Browning TSS (%) Firmness (N)

New Queen 3 2.3 ab 2.2 a 10.2 a 34.3 b

22 2.9 b 3.6 b 9.6 a 23.5 a
8601 3 2.2 a 2.7 a 11.7 a 42.1 b
18 2.6 b 3.4 b 11.8 a 34.3 a
Kalakusai 1 2.3 a 1.7 a 10.5 a 37.2 b
16 2.8 a 2.1 a 9.8 a 29.4 a

Different letters in each column indicate significant differences as determined by the Duncan’s multiple range test (P /0.05).
232 B. Yang et al. / Postharvest Biology and Technology 29 (2003) 229
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported in part by a grant
from Chinese Ministry of Education. We thank
Mr Xu W.R. and Mr Xu H.X. (MELON Fruits
Ltd Co., Lanzhou) for their help in carrying out
the experiments in their company.
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