56. Effect of different packing materials and storage periods on physico-chemical characteristics of citrus fruits

Abstract

Storage of surplus fruit has become the business activity of great significance and countries with abundant fruit resources and having short harvest reason are emphasizing more for established storage to maintain quality of fruits, increase shelf life for off-season use. A laboratory study was carried out during 2015 to investigate the effect of packing materials (Gunny bags, wooden crates, paper boxes and plastic bags) on the physico-chemical properties of sweet orange and grape fruit at different storage intervals (day-1, 3, 6 and 9) at the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of crop Production, Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam. The results revealed that fruit weight, diameter, pH, TSS, moisture, ash and specific gravity varied significantly (P<0.05) for citrus varieties, packing materials and storage periods. The stored citrus fruits packed in paper box revealed better performance and maintained their physico-chemical characteristics. The stored citrus fruits packed in wooden crates ranked 2^nd for quality attributes for sweet orange and grape fruits. The sweet oranges and grape fruit packed in gunny bags and plastic bags showed quality deterioration in regards to fruit physico-chemical characteristics studied. It was concluded that regardless the citrus varieties, paper box packing proved to be most suitable for citrus fruit storage, which maintained the better fruit quality and lesser fruit weight loss than rest of the packing materials. Sweet orange remained in acceptable quality up to six days of storage under room temperature while grape fruits remained in acceptable quality up to 9 days after storage later the fruit quality was deteriorated.

Keywords: Grape fruit; Packing material; Physico-chemical characteristics; Storage period; Sweet orange

http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2020.90062