GAHUKAR, Dr. S. J.WAGHODE, KANCHAN HARIDAS.2021-12-072021-12-072022-05-05WAGHODE, KANCHAN HARIDAS. (2021). Biological preparation of nanoparticles and its study on management of postharvest diseases of lemon. Biotechnology Centre, Department of Agricultural Botany. Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. M. Sc. 2021. Print. xii, 107p. (Unpublished).https://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810178759Nanotechnology has the potential to contribute to a new technology based agricultural revolution. A tiny evergreen tree from Asia is known as Citrus limon (lemon). North East region of India is the home of some citrus species e.g. lemon, lime and mandarins etc. The green nanoparticles synthesized in present study have wide agricultural applications including, nano-fertilizer and nano-pesticides, designed to reduce the applied amount of fertilizers and pesticides, its major aspect in agriculture is to increase shelf life of lemon fruits and storage in proper condition. The prepared antifungal emulsion can be used for post-harvest diseases management of lemon to reduce the post-harvest losses.The present investigation entitled “Biological preparation of nanoparticles and its study on management of post-harvest diseases of lemon” was conducted Food Microbiology Laboratory of All India Coordinated Research Project on Post–Harvest Engineering and Technology Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola. Lemon, fruits are highly demanded in the market for its nutritional value. About 30% of fruits are affected or damaged by microorganisms, insect, pre and post harvesting conditions during transport and preservation. Coating is an effective and alternative method to solve these problems and reduce its post-harvest losses during storage condition. In this study utilization of silver nanoparticle, Aloe vera and its combination as a good coat up to 28 days and stored at different temperatures (cold condition and ambient condition) to reduce post-harvest losses. Nanoparticle is synthesized from fungus Penicillium digitatum and characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, Particle size analysis, Zeta potential and FTIR techniques. the UV-Visible spectra of the biosynthesized silver nanoparticle shows characteristic surface plasmon absorption at 379nm. The biosynthesized AgNPs were found to have negative zeta potential -10.3 mV which shows increases the stability of the formulation. Z-average of silver nanoparticle having 23.11 (r. nm) size and FTIR shows band at 1553, 1683, 2390, 3633, 3781, 3890 cm-1. The treatment combinations were used for coating are C1=control, C2=Aloe vera, C3= nanoparticle and C4= combination of Aloe vera and nanoparticle. The coatings as having a high potential to carry active ingredients such as nano-materials maintained rotting percent Average weight, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, pH, colour of fruits. All the treatments are found to be effective against rotting of fruits, reducing weight, ascorbic acid. Thus this study will help to reduce the post-harvest losses during storage. The minimum average weight was noted in uncoated fruits whereas maximum average weight was noted in fruits coated with combination of Aloe vera and nanoparticles. The minimum TSS, titrable acidity, total sugar, reducing sugar and pH were noted in cold storage condition while non reducing sugar, ascorbic acid and average weight were noted maximum in ambient condition storage.EnglishThesis