Effect of postharvest display conditions on cherry stem quality

The appearance of cherry stems greatly influences consumer perception of cherry quality, where green stems are often used as indicators of overall cherry fruit freshness. In a series of storage trials with a range of cherry cultivars ('Sweetheart', 'Stella', 'Sweet Georgia'), we examined the effect of different storage temperatures (5 or 20°C) and display relative humidities (70 and 100%RH) on stem browning and water loss. The results showed that water loss from the stems was strongly affected by all storage factors. As expected, according to the vapour pressures of the different treatments, water loss from the stems was greatest in the high temperature (20°C) and low humidity storage (70%). The treatments with the lowest water loss from the stems were the low temperature storage (5°C) with high relative humidity (100%). The overall 'freshness' of the stems was significantly affected by all storage factors and is a better indication of stem acceptability. A linear relationship between stem diameter and water loss was determined with each cultivar, with over 85% of the variance in the data accounted by each relationship. In conclusion, the results clearly demonstrate the importance of temperature and relative humidity during the retail display of cherries.