Antioxidant compounds and qualitative traits in European (Prunus domestica L.) and Japanese (P. triflora L.) plum fruits as affected by cold storage

The Italian territory is rich in fruit trees germplasm and in the last years many research programs have been carried out to characterize local cultivars and accessions for deepenings about them and enhancing the market agreement too. The Sicilian plum cultivars ‘Sanacore’ and ‘Ariddo di core’ and the Piedmontese plum cultivar ‘Ramassin’ were studied to highlight their qualitative traits including the nutraceutical properties. Moreover, since it is important to know in which way the qualitative parameters change during the storage period one more study was carried out by storing the fruits under modified atmosphere in the Tectrol® system. The results evidenced very interesting aspects about the qualitative characteristics of the cultivars studied and a positive influence of the modified atmosphere during storage.