Influence of Staggered Hexanal Treatment on Post-Storage Fruit Physiology, Functional Quality and Enzyme Activity of ‘Royal Delicious’ Apple

The study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of staggered post-cold storage application of hexanal on apple cv. ‘Royal Delicious’. Fruits were removed from cold store after 1 and 2 months and subjected to aqueous hexanal (0.01%, 0.02%, 0.03% for 2 and 3 min) treatment followed by shelf life studies under ambient conditions (20–25 °C, 40–56% relative humidity) up to 21 days. Observations on physico-chemical and functional attributes of the treated and control fruits were taken at 7‑day intervals. The study demonstrated that aqueous hexanal treatment of apple fruit reduced the weight loss and decay, retained higher firmness, total anthocyanin and antioxidant content and improved the overall quality of the fruits up to 21 days at ambient conditions. Staggered application of higher hexanal concentration (0.03%) in solution was more effective to prevent decay and retain postharvest quality when given for 3 min. Furthermore, hexanal treatment of fruits following 1 month of cold storage maintained better overall quality of the fruits kept on the shelf under ambient conditions in comparison to hexanal treatment given to 2‑month cold-stored fruits. Thus, postharvest application of hexanal even after cold storage holds promise in prolonging postharvest storage life and preserving apple quality.