EFFECT OF OZONE TREATMENT AND STORAGE TEMPERATURE ON THE STORAGE ABILITY OF DATE PALM FRUITS (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L.) CV. MEDJOOL

This study was conducted during the agricultural season 2021-2022 on the fruits of date palm, Medjool cultivar, where the fruits were brought from one of the private orchards belonging to the Shatt Al-Arab district in Basrah Governorate, on 9/3/2021, and the experiment was carried out as a factorial experiment according to the Complete Randomized Design (CRD), with three replicates for each treatment .The experiment included three factors, the first was the evaporation with ozone gas at concentrations of 0, 2.500 and 5000 ppm, the second factor was the storage of fruits at three temperatures (5°C, 10 °C and 25°C), while the third factor was the storage period which extended six months .Fruits were packed in plastic containers with a capacity of 250 g before storage and the obtained results showed that the treatment with ozone at a concentration of 5000 ppm was superior in reducing the percentage of decay and retaining the water content, the percentage of total soluble solids, and the total acidity of the fruits. The results also showed that fruits stored at 5°C were the best in reducing decay and retained the water content, the percentage of total soluble solids compared to 10°C and 25°C. Stored fruits retained most of their studied characteristics despite the advanced storage period, which reached six months. Keywords: Date palm fruits, Medjool cultivar, storage, decay percentage, water content