A Simple Method for Co Determination in Fruit and Vegetable Respiration Studies

Florida sweet corn is harvested with 2 to 6 inches of shank and several flag leaves attached to the ear. Long shanks and fresh husks have been considered indexes of good quality. Storage tests with 15 lots of sweet corn showed that ears with long shanks had dented kernels much sooner than ears with short shanks. However, husks remained fresh longer on ears with long shanks. An indication was found that non-trim med ears with long flags lost more water during storage than similar ears with short flags. As the shanks were trimmed to shorter lengths, greater numbers of outer husks were severed at their attachment to the shank. These cut husks wilted and discolored much more rapidly than those still attached. The fact that ears with severed outer husks lost less weight and their kernels did not dent, further indicated that water was not moving from kernels to husks of these ears. No moisture was lost from kernels on closely trimmed ears with wilted husks, compared with a constant decrease in moisture from kernels on non-trimmed ears with fresh husks. Movement of water from kernels to husks was indicated on ears without closely trimmed shanks. LITERATURE CITED