Effect of precooling temperature on physiological quality of cold stored Agaricus bisporus

Effect of precooling temperatures (2°C, 6°C, 10°C and 14°C) on the physiological quality of postharvest Agaricus bisporus during cold storage was investigated. After six hours’ precooling, Agaricus bisporus was stored at 3°C and sampled on day 3, 6 and 9, respectively, for physiological quality analysis. Results showed that physiological quality of the Agaricus bisporus increased with the decrease of precooling temperature in the range of 2-14°C. Precooling at 2°C before cold storage had a positive impact on the storage quality of Agaricus bisporus. The decrease of hardness, whiteness and pH value was delayed, while the increase of cell membrane permeability and PPO and POD activities was restrained. Whiteness value of the Agaricus bisporus precooled at 2°C was above 80 on day 9, which means it was still acceptable, but the Agaricus bisporus precooled at 6°C and 10°C lost their commercial values.