ABSTRACT
The incidence of physiological disorders originating during postharvest handling and storage in citrus fruits have been for many years, and will continue to be, one of the main factors that negatively impacts fruit quality, accounting for significant financial losses. Postharvest physiological disorders of citrus fruit, in most cases, affect mainly the peel and manifest as injuries, pitting, darkening of the tissue, and browning, whereas the pulp, which is a physiologically separate unit of the fruit, remains unaffected. Low temperature storage is the most widely applied technology to extend the postharvest life of citrus fruit. The characteristic darkening of most chilling-injured fruit is most likely due to the internal release and oxidation of the contents of oil glands. Cold also provokes important modifications in the cell wall structure. CI development in citrus fruit has been associated with the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are directly involved in the oxidative stress damage of different molecules.
