Post-harvest application of SmartFreshTM Quality System
SmartFreshTM Quality System is commonly applied to apples in the UK and throughout the world to maintain harvest attributes. It is an important supplementary measure to good storage practice and is particularly effective in maintaining the quality of fruit in-store and during subsequent marketing and distribution.
Extensive research was carried out at East Malling Research (EMR) from 2000 onwards under the sponsorship of Rohm and Haas. Most of the research at EMR was done on Bramley, Cox and Gala. SmartFreshTM was approved for use on UK apples in September 2003. Since that time there has been considerable commercial experience with the product and there are now recommendations for its use with the following apple varieties in store: Bramley, Cameo, Cox, Egremont Russet, Empire, Gala, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Rubens and Spartan.
The active ingredient of SmartFreshTM is 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) a potent inhibitor of ethylene action in plants. As it is very similar in its chemical structure to ethylene, it binds preferentially with ethylene receptors in the cells of the fruit at the beginning of fruit storage. Consequently, for a period after SmartFreshTM application, apples are insensitive to ethylene and consequently ripening events are retarded.
SmartFreshTM is formulated as a powder that releases 1-MCP when mixed with water in the storage room. The process takes about 24 hours and does not leave any detectible residue on the apples or in the environment.
The application protocol decided universally for apples, based on work done in the UK and elsewhere, is 625 parts per billion of 1-MCP (calculated for empty store volume) applied for 24 hours with minimal delay between harvest and application.
SmartFreshTM applications are now subject to legislation which came into effect in 2017, whereby applicators must be suitably qualified and certificated to undertake storage treatments. Landseer as nominated agents of AgroFresh are trained to meet these standards and ensure applications are carried out to meet product stewardship requirements.
Once the suitability of the rooms has been determined, commercial applicators are prepared with an amount of SmartFreshTM that is appropriate for the volume of the store to be treated. Water is added and circulated through the SmartFreshTM via an integral battery-driven pump. The applicator is then inserted into the sealed store where it remains for approximately 24 hours. After treatment the store is operated normally.
The latest recommendations for how long different apple varieties will store after being treated with SmartFreshTM are found in the Optimal Storage Conditions chapter of this guide.
Results of SmartFreshTM research done at EMR are summarised in reports of EMRA Members’ Days on Top Fruit Storage (Johnson and Pearson, 2002; 2003) and elsewhere (Johnson, 2008). The benefits of SmartFreshTM for the main UK cultivars as determined from research done at EMR and from commercial experience are summarised below.