Low Light Irradiation Using Red Light Emitting Diodes and Nutrient Gel Application for Low Temperature Storage of Postharvest Chervil (Anthriscus cerefoliun L.)

Abstract

Postharvest chervil, a kind of culinary herb, stored at 8.0°C under low light irradiation (LLI: 1μmol m^-2 s^-1 PPFD) with nutrient gel application (NGA) to the cut ends of the stems showed similar changes in chromaticity (L^*, a^*, b^* and ΔE^*ab) values for 21 days of the storage period to that stored at 6.8°C under darkness with NGA. Low light was provided with an array of red light emitting diodes (red LEDs) . Postharvest chervil stored without NGA showed markedly greater values in L^*, a^* and ΔE^* ab after day 9 of the storage than that stored with NGA at 8.0°C under LLI. LLI using red LEDs with NGA proved highly effective for preserving the visual quality of postharvest chervil during low temperature storage.