*3.5. Fruit Decay*

The incidence of decayed fruit increased with storage time in all treatments. A similar trend was observed in pomegranate cultivars 'Mollar de Elche' and 'Wonderful' stored at 6 ◦C and 7 ◦C, respectively [20,54]. At the end of 84 d of cold storage, 35.4% of fruit packed with no-liner were lost to visible mould. However, packing fruit in non-perforated 'Decco' and 'Zoe' liners minimised decay incidence to 24.0 and 26.0%, respectively. Furthermore, packing fruit in micro-perforated Xtend® liners minimised fruit decay incidence to 17.7%, compared to 24.0 and 18.5% for fruit packed in 2 mm macro-perforated and 4 mm macroperforated HDPE liners, respectively (Figure 12A). Selcuk and Erkan [22] reported similar results on 'Hicrannar' pomegranate stored at 6 ◦C for 120 d, where the no-liner control registered 40% decay compared to 13.3 and 26.7% for MAP liner treatments. On the contrary, Laribi et al. [54] and Mphahlele et al. [20] reported higher decay incidence in pomegranate (cv. 'Mollar de Elche' and 'Wonderful') packed with MAP liners than with no-liners at the end of 84 and 140 d of cold storage, respectively. However, no significant difference in decay incidence between shrink-wrapped and non-wrapped pomegranate (cv. 'Primosole) at 70 d of cold storage was reported by D'Aquino et al. [17]. The higher decay incidence of fruit packed in non-perforated liners could be attributed to higher moisture condensation within liner bags and lower WVTR across film, resulting into accelerated fruit moulding compared to fruit packed in perforated liners (Figure 12A).

Fruit decay severity provides insight into the extent of the decay on a particular fruit. The influence of packaging treatments on fruit decay severity was different from their influence on decay incidence. Fruit packed with no-liner had the highest decay severity index than fruit packed in liners. The severity (index) of decay was higher in fruit packed with perforated liners compared to fruit packed in non-perforated liners (Figure 12B). This could be attributed to a lower respiration rate observed in fruit packed with non-perforated 'Decco' and 'Zoe' liners compared to fruit packed in perforated liners. Selcuk and Erkan [22] reported a no significant difference in decay index for control treatment and MAP liner treatments for pomegranate stored at 6 ◦C for 120 d.

**Figure 12.** (**A**) Percentage cumulative decay incidence. (**B**) Cumulative decay index (severity). Pomegranate fruit stored for 84 d at 5 ◦C and 90% relative humidity (RH). HDPE: high density polyethylene.
