Postharvest interventions for quality maintenance during storage of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) fruit
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Date
2019
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PUNJAB AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY,LUDHIANA
Abstract
The present investigation entitled “Postharvest interventions for quality maintenance during storage of litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) fruit” was conducted in the Department of Fruit Science and Punjab Horticultural Post Harvest Technology Centre (PHPTC), Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana during the year 2016-17 and 2017-18. The litchi fruits of cultivar „Dehradun‟ were harvested in second week of June during both the years and divided into different lots for further handling. Three experiments were laid out, viz; Effect of different methods of precooling on storage life and quality of litchi; Effect of different combinations of acids and edible coatings on storage life and fruit quality of litchi; Effect of different packaging materials on storage life and quality of litchi. The fruits were packed in CFB boxes and stored in walk-in-cold room maintained at 2-30C and 90-95% RH. All the three experiments were laid out in Factorial Completely Randomized Block Design using statistical analysis system software version 9.3. The litchi fruits were evaluated at weekly intervals for various physiological characters, biochemical parameters and enzymatic activities till 28 days. The fruits treated with hydrocooling (30 min) registered three weeks acceptable storage life and recorded minimum physiological loss in weight (3.88%), higher firmness (126.3 g force), lower decay incidence (8.80%), lower browning index, highest organoleptic score (7.05) and retained highest TSS (19.14⁰B), titratable acidity (0.32%), total sugars (13.16%), vitamin C (31.58 mg/100 g), anthocyanins (0.31 ΔA/g FW), antioxidant activity (83.76% inhibition), total phenols (246.33 mg/100 g FW). The enzyme PPO, POD and PAL activity was found to be minimum (148.08 unit/min/g FW, 153.85 unit/min/g FW and 0.65 μmol cinnamic acid produced/hour/g FW). In second experiment, the fruits treated with HCl 0.5 M + shellac coating witnessed two weeks storage life and recorded minimum physiological loss in weight (4.46%), higher firmness (127.1 g force), lower decay incidence (7.16%), lower browning index, highest organoleptic score (7.32) and retained highest TSS (18.88⁰B), titratable acidity (0.25%), total sugars (13.06%), vitamin C ( 30.46 mg/100g), , anthocyanins (0.30 ΔA/g FW), antioxidant activity (66.66% inhibition), total phenols (234.4 mg/100 g FW). The enzyme PPO, POD and PAL activity was minimum (79.77 unit/min/g FW, 48.10 unit/min/g FW and 0.79 μmol cinnamic acid produced/hour/g FW). In third experiment, the fruits packed in LDPE 25μ with 5 per cent perforation maintained three weeks storage life and recorded minimum physiological loss in weight (3.82%), higher firmness (125.9 g force), lower decay incidence (8.14%), lower browning index, highest organoleptic score (7.25) and retained highest TSS (18.36⁰B), titratable acidity (0.24%), total sugars (13.05%), vitamin C ( 32.78 mg/100g), anthocyanins (0.28 ΔA/g FW), antioxidant activity (64.19 % inhibition), total phenols (231.84 mg/100 g FW). The enzyme PPO, POD and PAL activity was minimum (65.81 unit/min/g FW, 52.85 unit/min/g FW and 0.66 μmol cinnamic acid produced/hour/g FW). The control (no treatment) fruits in all the experiments were found acceptable only up to 7 days of storage.
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