Effect of Pre-heat Treatment and Herbal Essences on the Postharvest Properties of Blood Orange

Postharvest losses are a limiting factor on storage life of many vegetables and fruits including citrus. Therefore a study was conducted to evaluate the effects of thermal treatments and herbal thyme oil spray on Sanguinello blood oranges in Golestan province in the northern part of Iran. The tests have been performed one day after harvesting، under four different treatments: hot water at 55˚C for 3 minutes، flushing of steam at 100˚C for 30 seconds، and spraying of fruits with two-percent thyme using surfactant. The fruits of each treatment were then kept in some boxes and placed in a cold storage at 8˚C and relative humidity of 85±5 percent، for two months. Results showed that the treatments had no significant effect on the quality parameters of fruits such as acidity، total soluble solid، maturity index and sensory evaluation. However، among all treatments، the steaming treatment had the greatest impact in preventing weight loss during storage.