LAUSR

This study aimed to determine the efficacy of two standards strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.) cultivars ‘Rubygem’ and ‘Sabrina’ grown under protected cultivation system in Mersin province in Turkey. The fruit quality preservation during storage in Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) at different storage temperatures as well as preservative compatibility under Ultraviolet-C (UV-C), hot water and combined applications were studied. Strawberry fruits kept in cold temperatures (0 °C and 5 °C) for 20 days and biochemical changes (total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity, vitamin C content and sugar content) were measured after harvest and storage The ‘cv. Rubygem’ kept its quality for 16 days in all treatments and for 20 days in UV-C and UV-C + hot water applications when kept at 0 °C. Also, the fruits stored at 5 °C kept their quality for 12 days and it was observed that hot water and UV-C + hot water treatments got better results in the same period and at the same storage temperature. In the ‘cv. Sabrina’ results showed that fruit samples at 0 °C were successfully maintained in control as well as the other 3 treatments until the 12 day. The preservation was continued in UV-C, hot water and combined treatments on the 16 day of the storage and the best ones were the hot water and UV-C + hot water at the end of the 20 day. As a result, it was observed that total phenolic contents, total antioxidant activity and sugar were found decrease at the end of storage for both cultivars while fluctuations in vitamin C.