Effects of Different Packaging Methods for Preservation on the Quality of Chinese Flowering Cabbages

To investigate the effects of different packaging methods for preservation on the quality of Chinese flowering cabbages, kitchen towel (ZJ), common plastic bags (CPE), and modified atmosphere bags (EFB and JG) were used to keep them fresh, with untreated ones as the control (CK). The Chinese flowering cabbages were stored at room temperature (18～23 ℃) or low temperature (4～6 ℃) for 5 days and 25 days, respectively. Then, they were evaluated for commerciality in appearance, rotting rate, etiolation rate, weight loss, and changes in the content of chlorophyll, water, soluble sugar and vitamin C. The results showed that the fresh-keeping effect of modified atmosphere bags (EFB and JG) was better than that of CPE and CK, and ZJ exhibited the worst effect. Compared with other methods, Chinese flowering cabbages packed with EFB and JG showed higher commerciality in appearance and maintain higher nutritional quality. Among them, JG had an even better fresh-keeping effect, with a rotting rate of 0.03%, an etiolation rate of 0.42%, a weight loss of 1.55%, and a minor decrease in chlorophyll content and water content (5.01% and 1.26%, respectively) after 25 days of low temperature storage; on the other hand, when compared with day 1, there was no significant difference in the content of soluble sugar after 15 days of low temperature storage (P>0.05). In addition, the content of vitamin C only decreased by 11.43%, a value significantly lower than that of any other methods (P<0.05). To sum up, the storage under low temperature with modified atmosphere bags can prolong the freshness lifetime of Chinese flowering cabbages, which is ideal for their storage and preservation.