# Late Shelf Life Saturation of Golden Delicious Apple Parameters: TSS, Weight, and Colorimetry
## 3 Results
### Color Analysis  
Across the entire storage process, a vast difference in color from week one to week six could be observed, changing from qualitative smooth green to yellow and brown spotted apples (Figure 2). For quantitatively evaluating color changes in apple skin during storage, L*, a*, and b* are plotted in Figures 3-5. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Week** & **2** & **3** & **4** & **5** & **6** \\ \hline
1 & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) \\
2 & & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) \\
3 & & & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) & \(p<0.001\) \\
4 & & & & \(p=0.018\) & \(p<0.001\) \\
5 & & & & & \(p=0.025\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: \(p\) values results from one-way analysis of variance ANOVA. Figure 2: Color of a Golden Delicious apple at week one (**a**) and week six (**b**). The L* value decreases from week one to week six. This result could be associated with the change from green to bright green and then yellow with brown spots. L* values change from 0.9994 to 0.9995. Figure 4: Effect of ambient temperature on a* values of apples during storage: the red color parameter increases to a specific limit. Figure 5: Effect of ambient temperature on b* color values of apple during storage: the yellow color parameter increases to a specific limit. Figure 3: Effect of ambient temperature on L* values of apple during storage: lightness factor decreases to a specific limit. from 74.81 in week one to 71.27 in week six. L* variation is related to PPO (polyphenol oxidase) activity, which alters the tissue surface and reduces apple pigments [38]. This study statistically confirmed a significant difference between this parameter's baseline and end state (\(p<0.05\)). The a* and b* values increase during storage at room temperature. This increase is related to the chlorophyll breakdown processes that lead to its decrease and fruit ripening [38]. The a* values change from \(-5.77\) in week one to 9.47 in week six, and the b* values change from 47.15 in week 1 to a maximum in week 6 of 56.45. For parameters a* and b*, it can also be stated that there is a significant difference between the data measured in the first week and the data measured in the last week (\(p<0.05\)). According to [PERSON] and [PERSON], higher b* values are associated with high carotenoids and xanthophylls and the loss of chlorophylls in the pericarp during climacteric fruit ripening of pumpkins and squash [39]. These changes result from the decrease in the greenness of the apple and an increase in its yellowish. In addition, it must be noted that the yellow (b*) color parameter reaches the limiting asymptote much earlier than the red (a*). This could be because Golden Delicious can develop a red color, even at the storage stage, where both light (blue-violet and UV) and temperature affect this color change [40]. However, we showed that this change is slower than for the other color parameter. It is also interesting to see how outliers are grouped from Figures 3-5, meaning that these values can be attributed to one outlier sample, apples (giving meaningful outlier results on three different sampling points per apple). It must be noted that the outliers and the deviances generally increase with time, meaning that the investigated parameters vary more with the imminent degradation of the samples, which can also affect consumer preference.one 1 to 25.82 on week six (Figure 6). The higher the Delta E value, the lower the color accuracy. The increment in delta E values confirmed the samples' visual color changes. Chroma C* is the distance from the axis of lightness (L) to the origin of color and begins at zero in the center. It describes the degree of color for an area seen with its brightness; it becomes increasingly relevant as color coordinates go away from the origin.