Extended Storage of Yellow Pepper Fruits at Suboptimal Temperatures May Alter Their Physical and Nutritional Quality

Yellow sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum L. cv. Dinamo) are generally more susceptible than red sweet peppers to physiological and pathological deterioration after harvest. Yellow peppers also fetch higher prices at market. In this study, we examined the external and nutritional quality attributes of yellow pepper fruits stored at suboptimal temperatures of 1.5 and 4 °C for 3 weeks, followed by a 3-day shelf-life simulation. Notably, yellow peppers kept in plastic (Xtend®, Stepac, Tefen, Israel) bags at 4 °C maintained their external quality just as well as peppers stored at the optimum temperature of 7 °C. In addition, nutrient content (namely ascorbic acid) and total phenolic and hydrophilic antioxidant contents were not reduced when the peppers were kept at suboptimal storage temperatures of 4 or 1.5 °C in Xtend® plastic packaging. Thus, the external and nutritional qualities of yellow pepper fruits can be preserved at suboptimal temperatures of 4 °C with Xtend® plastic packaging. This is particularly significant in light of the fact that storage at such temperatures is sometimes used as a quarantine method to eliminate pests on produce imported into Israel.