Response of polyethylene packaging on postharvest physiology of tomato

Abstract

Present investigation entitled “Response of Polyethylene Packaging on Postharvest Physiology and Quality of Tomato” was carried out in the Department of Horticulture, Rajasthan College of Agriculture, Udaipur. Experiment was conducted during 22th Feb.–13th March, 2017. The fully matured but unripe fruit at colour turning stage were harvested and packed in low density polyethylene bag (20, 40, 60, 80 µ thicknesses) and newspaper (control). Experiment consists of 4 treatment were evaluated under factorial completely randomized design with three replications. The stored fruit examined at 5 days interval up to 20 days for physiological, biochemical, color, quality and sensory changes. The result exhibited the significant effect of polyethylene packaging on all physiological, of tomato fruit during storage. Among the Polyethylene Packaging, treatment P4 (60 µ LDPE) proved best with minimum PLW (2.05%), ripening index (9.24%) and maximum respiration rate (8.01 ml CO2 kg-1 h-1), ethylene evaluation rate (7.85 μl C2H4 Kg-1 h-1), firmness (42.65 N) was observed in treatment P4 (60 µ LDPE) on 20th day.