**3. Results**

#### *3.1. Gray Mold Incidence (%)*

After 50 days of cold storage, 'BRS Vitoria' table grapes submitted to treatments with SO2-generating pads presented a lower incidence of gray mold in relation to the control, and in the treatments with the dual release and fast-reduced release pads, no symptoms of the disease were observed, even when the fruit were inoculated with pathogen (Table 1).


**Table 1.** Gray Mold Incidence (%) of 'BRS Vitoria' seedless table grapes at 50 days of cold storage and 7 days of room temperature under different SO2 pad treatments.

z Means within columns followed by the same letters are not significantly different by Scott Knott's test (*p* ≤ 0.05). y Bo: *Botrytis* inoculation. x \*\*: F value significant at 1%.

In the same way, these treatments presented better performance in fungus control after 7 days at room temperature, where the highest incidence of gray mold was observed in treatments with slow release pads, with or without inoculation (13.4% and 17.2%, respectively), and in the control (13%) Table 1). Thus, it was verified that the slow release pad was less efficient to avoid the occurrence of gray mold in the 'BRS Vitoria' grape stored in cold chamber.

#### *3.2. Shattered Berries and Stem Browning*

It was observed that all treatments with SO2 generator pads showed a lower percentage of shattered berries (1.5% to 3.5%) at 50 days after refrigerated storage when compared with control (6.1%). At 7 days after room temperature there was no difference among the treatments, and the percentage of shattered berries varied from 3.1% to 7.2% (Table 2).

**Table 2.** Shattered berries (%) and stem browning scores of 'BRS Vitoria' seedless table grapes at 50 days in cold storage and 7 days of room temperature under different SO2 pad treatments.


z Stem Browning Scoring System: 1 = fresh and green; 2 = light browning; 3 = moderate browning; and 4 = severe browning. y Means within columns followed by the same letters are not significantly different by Scott Knott's test (*p* ≤ 0.05). x Bo: *Botrytis* inoculation. w \*: F value significant at 5%. NS: not significant.

The browning was not affected by the treatments in the evaluated periods. However, at 50 days after refrigerated storage, the scores were closer to 1 and 2, indicating fresh and green and browning, and after 7 days at room temperature, the scores were close to 3, indicating moderate browning (Table 2).

#### *3.3. Physical Properties for Quality Measurements*

In the treatments with SO2 slow release pads, the mass loss was lower (1.0%) than the other treatments (1.8% to 2.4%) at 50 days after refrigerated storage. On the other hand, at 7 days at room temperature, it was observed that the treatments with SO2 dual release and dual release–fast reduced pads had lower mass loss, even when inoculated with *Botrytis* (0.3% and 0.6%) (Table 3).

**Table 3.** Mass loss and firmness of 'BRS Vitoria' seedless table grapes at 50 days of cold storage and 7 days of room temperature under different SO2 pad treatments.


z Means within columns followed by the same letters are not significantly different by Scott Knott's test (*p* ≤ 0.05). y Bo: *Botrytis* inoculation. x \*\*, \*: significant at 1% and 5%, respectively. NS: not significant.

There was no difference between the treatments in relation to firmness of the berries 50 days after refrigerated storage and 7 days after ambient temperature; the averages varied from 10.1 N to 12.7 N, and 11.3 to 14.9 N, respectively (Table 3).

#### *3.4. Chemical Properties for Quality Measurements*

Regarding the color attributes of grape berries, no differences were observed among treatments at 50 days after refrigerated storage. After 7 days at room temperature, grapes treated with SO2 dual release–fast reduced pads presented higher means of *L\**, indicating a darker coloration, and when inoculated with *Botrytis*, lower means of *C\**. In the same period, a lower *h*◦ (57.3) was observed, with saturation between orange and yellow for treatment with SO2 dual release pads with inoculation (Table 4).

There was no difference between treatments regarding the pH of the grapes in the evaluated periods (Table 5). The grapes treated with dual release–fast reduced and slow release pads with inoculation of *Botrytis* showed higher TA at 50 days after refrigerated storage. In the same period, the highest SS means were observed in treatments with slow release, dual release, and dual release–fast reduced pads with inoculation. After 7 days at room temperature, all treatments with SO2 pads inoculated with *Botrytis* presented higher levels of SS. The SS/AT ratio was lower in treatments with slow release pads with *Botrytis* inoculation, dual release, and dual release–fast reduced pads 50 days after refrigerated storage, but at 7 days at room temperature, slow release pads and all treatments inoculated with *Botrytis* showed higher means for this characteristic (Table 5).


**Table 4.** Luminosity (*L\**), chroma (*C\**), and hue angle (*h*◦) of 'BRS Vitoria' seedless table grape at 50 days of cold storage and 7 days of room temperature under different SO2 pad treatments. z Means within columns followed by the same letters are not significantly different by Scott Knott's test (*p* ≤ 0.05). y Bo: *Botrytis* inoculation. x \*\*, \*: significant at 1% and 5%, respectively. NS: not significant.

SO2 dual release pad 3.9 ± 0.1 17.0 ± 0.4 b 0.8 ± 0.0 b 22.9 ± 1.5 b 4.1 ± 0.2 16.1 ± 0.6 b 0.6 ± 0.0 25.2 ± 0.6 b SO2 dual release–fast reduced pad 4.1 ± 0.1 17.4 ± 0.3 b 0.8 ± 0.0 a 22.1 ± 1.0 b 4.1 ± 0.2 16.3 ± 0.9 b 0.6 ± 0.0 25.8 ± 3.3 b SO2 slow release pad + Bo y 4.0 ± 0.1 16.8 ± 0.3 b 0.8 ± 0 a 20.7 ± 1.1 b 4.1 ± 0.1 17.7 ± 0.3 a 0.6 ± 0.0 28.8 ± 0.3 a SO2 dual release pad + Bo 4.1 ± 0.2 18.0 ± 0.4 a 0.7 ± 0.0 b 24.5 ± 1.4 a 4.0 ± 0.1 17.5 ± 0.3 a 0.6 ± 0.0 29.0 ± 1.9 a SO2 dual release–fast pad reduced + Bo 4.1 ± 0.2 17.9 ± 0.5 a 0.8 ± 0.0 b 23.5 ± 0.4 a 4.2 ± 0.1 18.5 ± 1.2 a 0.6 ± 0.0 29.9 ± 2.0 a F value 0.8 NS x 2.7 \* 4.7 \*\* 4.2 \*\* 0.8 NS 3.4 \* 1.1 NS 2.4 \*
