Abstract
The effects of relative humidity and the conditions of shipping containers on the quality of eggplants harvested in evening were investigated. The weight loss of eggplants was suppressed and the hardness of eggplants was kept during storage at high humidity. Whereas, the precooling treatment was no significant effect on maintaining the quality of the eggplants. The shipping containers such as normal corrugated container with a polyethylene film packaging bag, a corrugated container with perforated polypropylene film packaging bags and a corrugated container with a polyethylene laminated liner were useful to keep high humidity at practical conditions. The quality of the eggplants was maintained better than for those harvested in the morning and packed in usual corrugated shipping containers with inner waxed paper packaging. It was demonstrated that a high humidity storage was more effective for suppression of the transpiration rate of eggplants rather than low temperature storage.
