Abstract

Author:
Samita Thapa, Saroj Sapkota, Debraj Adhikari

Doi: 10.26480/sfna.02.2020.69.75

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different postharvest treatments on maintaining quality and shelf life of sweet orange from Feb-Apr 2019 under completely randomized (CRD) with four replications and five treatments (T1= Aloe vera gel @100%, T2= Paraffin wax @100%, T3= Corn Starch @4%, T4=Tragacanth Gum @4%, T1=Control i.e. untreated fruits) at ambient room condition (15.15±0.33ºC, 58.16±1.69% RH). The parameters recorded were Physiological loss in weight (PLW), total soluble solid(TSS), titratable acidity(TA), Shrinkage, Juice content, Marketability, Disease Incidence and Shelf life in every 5 days’ interval till 40th day. Minimum percentage of PLW was observed in the fruits treated with paraffin wax (5.83% in 40th day) which was statistically at par with the findings of all other coated fruits. Corn starch showed minimum shrinkage (4.27%) which was statistically at par with Paraffin wax (100%) and tragacanth gum (4%). Wax treated fruits recorded the maximum juice recovery percentage (31.43%) whereas the minimum juice recovery percentage (27.81%) was observed in control fruits. The control fruits (untreated) showed the maximum TSS (15.03º brix) which was statistically at par with Aloe Vera and Corn starch. Higher acidity was found in the fruits treated with Aloe Vera (100%) (0.917) which was statistically par with corn starch (4%) and tragacanth gum (4%). The marketability value of tragacanth gum treated fruits was reported to be maximum (4.445). Minimum disease index (2.25) was observed in the fruits treated with tragacanth gum which was statistically at par with Aloe vera gel and corn starch treated fruits whereas postharvest life was found maximum (69 Days) in fruits treated with Aloe vera (100%) while it was only 46 in control fruits.