Near freezing point temperature storage inhibits chilling injury and enhances the shelf life quality of apricots following long‐time cold storage

To improve postharvest quality, apricots (cv. Xingmei) were stored at a near freezing temperature (NFT, −1.7 ± 0.2°C) or 0°C for 60 days to evaluate storage and shelf life quality. Apricot fruits stored at three low temperatures for short (20 days), medium (40 days), and long (60 days) periods were moved to shelf life storage for 4 days to assess the impact of chilling injury on apricot quality. Similar quality was observed after short-period storage; higher chilling injury was observed after medium storage at 5°C than at 0°C and NFT; and following long-time storage, only NFT-treated fruits exhibited no chilling injury. Following long-time NFT storage (60 days) and shelf life storage, apricots maintained higher firmness, extractable juice, antioxidant capacity, and bioactive compounds content, as well as reduced chilling injury (e.g., membrane permeability and hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde content) than at the other two cold storage temperatures. Practical applications Severe cold damage was observed after 60 days of storage at 0°C and 5°C, whereas near freezing point temperature (NFT) storage inhibited chilling injury. We found that NFT storage may improve the bioactive compound and antioxidant activity in stored apricots. To date, NFT storage has not been widely studied from a theoretical or practical perspective. We believe that the NFT storage can more extend the storage period and improve commodity quality after long-term storage of apricots on industrial or commercial application.