Alleviating Chilling Injury of Sweet Basil Leaves after Harvest

Abstract

　The utility of water heat, temperature conditioning, and sugar treatment for reducing the chilling injury of sweet basil leaves was investigated. Water heat treatments (38－42℃ for 0.5－3 h) and temperature-conditioning treatments (12－35℃ for 8 h－6 d) reduced chilling injury, as did sugar treatment either alone or in combination with temperature conditioning. A combination of temperature conditioning and sugar treatment, especially with 1 M sucrose or 1 M glucose, was more effective than sugar treatment or temperature conditioning alone.