Vol. 11, Issue 9 (2022)

Author(s):
Archit Singh, BK Singh, Kalyan Barman and Anand Kumar Singh

Abstract:
Guava (Psidium guajava L.) is the most important fruit crop in India, which has a limited shelf life after harvest. This study investigated the use of some post-harvest treatments to increase shelf life, reduce decay incidence, and evaluate the physico-chemical changes of fruit during storage. Guava is grown extensively in Uttar Pradesh and sometimes causes a glut in the local market. The fruit growers have insufficient facilities to increase the shelf life of guava fruits. The processing and storage of fruits at the point of production is the only solution for the economical disposal of this marketable surplus to ensure reasonable returns for producers as well as reasonable prices for consumers. An experiment was conducted in the Post-harvest laboratory, Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (U. P.) in 2020–21 to investigate the combined effect of edible coating and packaging on ripening behaviour and keeping quality of guava fruits under ambient conditions. The experiment was designed in a factorial completely randomized design with three replicates for each treatment at 3-day intervals under ambient conditions. The results of the present studies revealed that the physiological mature fruits treated with CMC (1.5%) + Shrink film packaging were most effective in delaying physiological weight loss and reduction of total soluble solids, total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, total antioxidant capacity, total phenolics, decay loss, and retained marketability of fruits up to a later stage of storage. Thus, the combination of edible coatings with packaging can be used to improve shelf life and maintain the post-harvest quality of guava fruits. The results of this study will be very helpful for farmers to minimize post-harvest losses and long-distance marketing of guava fruits. Furthermore, it will also be beneficial to consumers due to the extended storage life.