Abstract:
The investigations were carried out in the laboratory of the Technical University of Moldova with sweet cherries cultivated in the orchard of "Farm-Prod" Ltd., in 2022. The fruits were harvested from trees of Kordia and Regina varieties grafted on Gisela 5 Gi1482 rootstock trained under spindle system. Xtend modified atmosphere packages were used to prolong the storage period and the fruit quality. Sweet cherries were stored at the temperature of -0,5oC for 42 days. At the initial phase, at two, four, five and six weeks of storage, the CO2 and O2 concentrations and the fruit quality was determined and evaluated. The results showed that using Xtend modified atmosphere packing can maintain fruit quality under market acceptable conditions for five weeks in comparison to normal atmosphere where after two weeks of storage the fruit quality drastically reduced.