Researches on the influence of technological production and valorization factors on the commercial quality of Cardinal peaches cultivar.

Peaches are perishable fruits, with a high level of water, which present a pronounced sensitivity both to the action of environmental factors in orchard as well as after harvesting, at handling and storage. They may not be preserved for more then 3-4 weeks, according to the culture technology, cultivar, preserving conditions, because the quality may be affected . The quality represents one of the most important aspects of the produce, both during trading and on reaching the consumer or final buyer. Starting from this aspects, this paper will analyse the influence of some production (fertiliser regime) and valorisation (preserving conditions) factors upon the quality and its maintaining capacity during the preserving of peaches. The fruits’ firmness, organoleptic appreciation, biochemical composition, quantitative and qualitative losses were determinated. The peaches Cardinal cultivar (American cultivar, created in 1941, introduced in our country in 1962, appreciated throughout the world up to now) provided from experimental plots of the Research Station for Fruit Growing Constanta, fertilized in different manners, with organic and chemical fertilizers, applied on soil and foliar. The peaches were stored at ICDIMPH-Bucharest in three variants: in the ambient temperature (2628C), in cold conditions (T = 2-4°C) and cold + modified atmosphere conditions, for 7; 28 and 35 days, respectively. The best results were obtained in the case of the fertilisation with chemical fertilisers applied on soil + foliar, which induce the best quality and their maintaining during storage. The results also indicate the superiority of fruit storage in modified atmosphere conditions in comparison with the others methods.