Abstract:Browning is one of the main factors affecting sales of litchi fruit. In order to understand the relationship between color change and other quality indicators of litchi fruit, ‘Guiwei’ litchi fruit was chosen for this study. The fruit was packaged in PE packaging bags with holes and stored under cold storage and controlled atmosphere storage conditions, for 30 days. The change of color index a* values of litchi pericarp and other quality indicators were studied, and the data were fitted to a linear relationship. The results showed that controlled atmosphere storage was advantageous in suppressing the change of color index a* value of litchi pericarp, which decreased from 35.0 to 28.97 under controlled atmosphere conditions, whereas it decreased to 20.96 under cold storage conditions. In addition, a* value of litchi pericarp showed a linear relationship with the rate of pericarp moisture loss, browning index, anthocyanin content, weight loss rate, and sensory evaluation score, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.8609. However, a* value of litchi pericarp did not show a significant linear relationship with conductivity and pH value, while the average correlation coefficients were 0.5392 and 0.4977, respectively. Under cold storage conditions, expect for sensory evaluation value, a* value of litchi pericarp showed better linear correlations with other quality indicators when compared to those under controlled atmosphere conditions, where the average correlation coefficient was 0.7752 under controlled atmosphere conditions, but was 0.9465 under cold storage conditions. The results of this study provide a reference for predicting litchi shelf life by color index of the pericarp.
