Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics
In contrast to previous studies investigating the effect of freezing at low temperatures, this work aimed to evaluate the quality of ‘Mejhoul’ during the long-term storage of 8 months under freezing at −10 °C and −18 °C. Based on numerous physicochemical attributes and image features, the behavior o...
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2025-06-01
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| author | Younes Noutfia Ewa Ropelewska Justyna Szwejda-Grzybowska Zbigniew Jóźwiak Monika Mieszczakowska-Frąc Krzysztof P. Rutkowski |
| author_facet | Younes Noutfia Ewa Ropelewska Justyna Szwejda-Grzybowska Zbigniew Jóźwiak Monika Mieszczakowska-Frąc Krzysztof P. Rutkowski |
| author_sort | Younes Noutfia |
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| description | In contrast to previous studies investigating the effect of freezing at low temperatures, this work aimed to evaluate the quality of ‘Mejhoul’ during the long-term storage of 8 months under freezing at −10 °C and −18 °C. Based on numerous physicochemical attributes and image features, the behavior of ‘Mejhoul’ was assessed at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 months of frozen storage. The quality characteristics examined included polyphenols, sugars, color parameters, hardness, water loss, defects, and image features. The results exhibited a significant increase in water activity after eight months of frozen storage. pH increased in a similar way for both storage conditions, while titratable acidity decreased significantly. All color attributes (L*, a*, and b*) were not influenced by frozen storage, while hardness decreased significantly after eight months. Phenolic acids decreased significantly at the end of frozen storage for both freezing temperatures. However, total polyphenols, flavonoids, total sugars, glucose, and fructose were not affected by the prolonged frozen storage. Furthermore, this investigation showed a slight water gain at both storage temperatures, with a pronounced occurrence rate of skin separation for ‘Mejhoul’ stored at −18 °C. Finally, the clustering analysis exhibited a high linkage distance between the examined groups at frozen storage at −10 °C compared to −18 °C. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ae0b807edb034d8c85c7de87003c2fc7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2311-7524 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Horticulturae |
| spelling | doaj-art-ae0b807edb034d8c85c7de87003c2fc72025-08-20T03:58:31ZengMDPI AGHorticulturae2311-75242025-06-0111773110.3390/horticulturae11070731Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative CharacteristicsYounes Noutfia0Ewa Ropelewska1Justyna Szwejda-Grzybowska2Zbigniew Jóźwiak3Monika Mieszczakowska-Frąc4Krzysztof P. Rutkowski5Fruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing Department, The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, PolandFruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing Department, The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, PolandFruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing Department, The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, PolandFruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing Department, The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, PolandFruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing Department, The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, PolandFruit and Vegetable Storage and Processing Department, The National Institute of Horticultural Research, Konstytucji 3 Maja 1/3, 96-100 Skierniewice, PolandIn contrast to previous studies investigating the effect of freezing at low temperatures, this work aimed to evaluate the quality of ‘Mejhoul’ during the long-term storage of 8 months under freezing at −10 °C and −18 °C. Based on numerous physicochemical attributes and image features, the behavior of ‘Mejhoul’ was assessed at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 months of frozen storage. The quality characteristics examined included polyphenols, sugars, color parameters, hardness, water loss, defects, and image features. The results exhibited a significant increase in water activity after eight months of frozen storage. pH increased in a similar way for both storage conditions, while titratable acidity decreased significantly. All color attributes (L*, a*, and b*) were not influenced by frozen storage, while hardness decreased significantly after eight months. Phenolic acids decreased significantly at the end of frozen storage for both freezing temperatures. However, total polyphenols, flavonoids, total sugars, glucose, and fructose were not affected by the prolonged frozen storage. Furthermore, this investigation showed a slight water gain at both storage temperatures, with a pronounced occurrence rate of skin separation for ‘Mejhoul’ stored at −18 °C. Finally, the clustering analysis exhibited a high linkage distance between the examined groups at frozen storage at −10 °C compared to −18 °C.https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/11/7/731freezing<i>Phoenix dactylifera</i> L.polyphenolsskin separationimage featuresclustering analysis |
| spellingShingle | Younes Noutfia Ewa Ropelewska Justyna Szwejda-Grzybowska Zbigniew Jóźwiak Monika Mieszczakowska-Frąc Krzysztof P. Rutkowski Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics Horticulturae freezing <i>Phoenix dactylifera</i> L. polyphenols skin separation image features clustering analysis |
| title | Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics |
| title_full | Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics |
| title_fullStr | Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics |
| title_short | Impact of Prolonged Frozen Storage on ‘Mejhoul’ Date Palm Cultivar Based on Selected Qualitative Characteristics |
| title_sort | impact of prolonged frozen storage on mejhoul date palm cultivar based on selected qualitative characteristics |
| topic | freezing <i>Phoenix dactylifera</i> L. polyphenols skin separation image features clustering analysis |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/11/7/731 |
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