3.4.2. Aril Firmness

Generally, aril firmness increased in fruit packed with no-liner compared to decreasing aril firmness in fruit packed with liners (Table 4). The increase in aril firmness for fruit packed with no-liner could be attributed to moisture loss, leading to hardening of aril tissues. The decrease in aril firmness is often associated to quality deterioration and may be due to physiological activity such as respiration that brings about softening and disintegration of cell wall structure [50,53]. There was no significant difference in aril firmness for fruit packed with liners throughout the storage period. Fruit packed with non-perforated 'Decco' and 'Zoe' liners retained more aril firmness compared to fruit packed with perforated liners. At the end of 84 d of storage, fruit packed in either of the non-perforated ('Decco' and 'Zoe') liners lost 2.0% of initial aril firmness (143.9 ± 1.5 N), compared to 2.8, 5.5, and 3.5% for fruit in micro-perforated Xtend®, 2 mm macro-perforated HDPE liners, and 4 mm macro-perforated HDPE liners, respectively. Liners have been reported to maintain desirable firmness in pomegranate and table grape [36,37]. Similar results have been reported with the application of heat shrinkable films on pomegranate fruit [8,17].
