Storage quality of fresh mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus Lange.) as affected by various pre- and post-harvest treatments
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Date
2015
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YSPU
Abstract
Studies on ‘Storage quality of fresh mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus Lange.) as affected by various preand
post-harvest treatments’ were carried out in the Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr. Yashwant
Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan during 2012-13 and 2013-14. The whole
programme of work was divided into three separate experiments. In Experiment I(a) and Experiment I(b)
various concentrations of different plant extracts and CaCl2 were applied to standardize the best post-casing
treatments for production of quality mushrooms, which were then combined with various packaging materials to standardize the complete protocol of post-casing and packaging treatments under Experiment I(c). In
Experiment II plant extracts and CaCl2 were tried as post-harvest treatments, whereas in Experiment III various coating materials were tested for their effect on storage quality of fresh mushrooms. All the post-casing treatments improved yield and physico-chemical quality characteristics of mushroom at harvest as well as during storage. Carbendazim @ 0.1 per cent in combination with 0.3 per cent CaCl2 applied at post-casing stage resulted in a yield of 2.26 kg/10kg bag of substrate and it was followed by 3.0 per cent garlic extract + 0.3 per cent CaCl2 treatment which produced 2.23 kg/10 kg bag as compared to 1.56 kg/10 kg bag under the control treatment. Garlic extract and CaCl2 treatments appeared to be more effective in retaining storage quality, as evaluated on the basis of reduction in physiological loss in weight (PLW), spoilage, total plate count (TPC), enzymatic browning and polyphenol oxidase activity. It was also more effective in retention of colour, moisture, pH, total soluble solids (TSS), proteins and total phenol contents during storage, as a result of which they were rated to be of higher overall acceptability, especially when mushrooms were packed in plastic moulded cups (punnets) and stored under refrigerated conditions. Plant extracts applied as post-harvest treatments were also effective in reducing deterioration in mushroom quality during storage with 3.0 per cent garlic extract + 0.3 per cent CaCl2 outperforming other treatments. The most effective postharvest coating treatment in retaining storage quality of mushrooms was the combination of 5.0 per cent calcium caseinate + 2.5 per cent glycerol + 0.25 per cent CMC + 0.125 per cent CaCl2, whereas chitosan acetate @ 1.5 per cent, Starlight @ 45 per cent and honey @ 10 per cent concentrations were effective to a lesser extent.
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Keywords
extraction, vegetables, storage, fungi, plant extracts, aloe, refrigeration, planting, garlic, irrigation