Correlation between the storability and fruit quality of fresh goji berries

Abstract Poor storability is the largest problem thwarting the marketization of fresh goji berries (Lycium barbarum L.). In this study, the storability of fresh fruits from 31 varieties of goji berry was evaluated by their decay index and rate of decay to choose 13 varieties of fresh fruit with excellent, medium and poor storability. Correlation and partial least squares regression analyses were adopted to explore the correlations between storability and 16 physical and chemical indicators from summer and autumn fruits. The storability calculated by the decay rate is significantly positively correlated with the content of flavonoids in the summer fruits, while the storability calculated by the decay index is significantly negatively correlated with the color difference b* and total acids in the summer fruits (P