Scientific Papers Series B Horticulture

Appearance of the apricots after 5 storage daysin environmental conditions is presented in thefigure 4, after 15 days in refrigerated conditionsin the figure 5 and after 20 days in coldconditions in the figure 6.Figure 4. Appearance of apricots after 5 storage days inenvironmental conditionsminutes after starting the process can be seen astabilization of the humidity values between12-16% with a tendency to form a tray at thevalue of 14%, which indicates a uniformity ofthe air humidity inside the place fordehydration.The temperature variation-analyzing the graph(Figure 8) can be seen that the start temperaturewas 30-33°C, ambient temperaturerespectively. The first hour of operation revealsa faster growth temperature values of 50-60°C.Over the next 120 minutes occurs a slowincrease of temperature, stabilizing its valuesaround 70-73°C, after 180 minutes from theprocess starting.Figure 5. Appearance of apricots after 15 storage days inrefrigerated roomsFigure 6. Appearance of apricots after 20 storage days incold roomsThe variation of air humidity inside the placefor dehydration-analyzing the graph (Figure 7),can be notice that at the beginning of theprocess the humidity was 76-80% in the fourmeasuring points of the place.Figure 7. The variation of humidity inside the place fordehydration in the first 3 hoursDuring the first 30 minutes occurs a suddendecrease of humidity to a value of 35 – 40%.Over the next two hours the humidity decreaseis achieved more slowly, reaching values of20-30%. In the period between 120 and 180Figure 8. The variation of temperature inside the placefor dehydration in the first 3 hoursCONCLUSIONSStorage temperature is the main factor thatdetermines the duration of apricot qualitypreservation. In this way the apricots have beenkept maximum 5 days in ambiental temperaturewith 32,2% total average losses, 15 days inrefrigerated rooms with 38,7% total averagelosses and 20 days in cold storage with 13,3%total average losses. Optimum duration ishowever 3 days in ambiental temperature, 10days in refrigeration and 15 days in coldconditions.Apricot varieties had different behaviour insimilar storage conditions. If Royal apricotshad better results in ambiental temperature, Ceamai buna de Ungaria gave better results inrefrigerated storage and Mari de Cenad keptbetter quality than others in cold conditions.Firmness is a good indicator of fruit quality andits evolution during storage allowed a goodevaluation of quality preservation in differentstorage conditions. Fruit firmness decreasedwith about 25% in all storage conditions. The125