Vol. 10, Issue 7 (2021)

Author(s):
Maneesh Kumar, VP Singh, Rajkumar Jat, Sajeel Ahamad and Virendra Kumar

Abstract:
Fruits play a major role in the daily diet of the human and are major sources of various vitamins and minerals as well as they provide a very good income to the farmers. Several environmental factors have a significant role during fruit growth and their development. Many pre-harvest biotic (diseases, pests, birds) and abiotic (include genetic, environmental and cultural) stresses influence the postharvest quality of the fruits and lead to susceptibility of fruits to diseases and various physiological disorders like cracking and sunburn. To combat these problems, fruit bagging is an effective technique, which improves both physical and chemical quality of the fruits and minimizes the effect of agrochemical residues on the fruit surface. It provides physical protection to the fruits and modifies the micro-environment inside the bag in favour of the fruit development. It minimizes the incidences of many diseases, insect-pests, physical damage, sunburn and cracking of the fruits. Due to its several advantageous effects, it is being used commercially in several fruits such as mango, banana, guava, grape, apple, litchi etc. in many parts of the world.