to evaluate the effect of different pre-chemical treatments and packing materials on the fruit quality of mosambi (Citrus limetta)

Abstract

A study was carried\r\nout in entitled “To evaluate the effect of different pre-chemical treatments\r\nand packing materials on the fruit quality of Mosambi (Citrus limetta)” at the Agricultural laboratory of Sant Baba\r\nBhag Singh University, Jalandhar, Punjab (India) during the year 2020.\r\nCompletely Randomized Design (CRD) with 3 replications and 10 treatments was\r\nconstructed for the present study. Fruits were pre-treated in hot water (55 °C)\r\nwas given for 1 minute. Then, fruits were air dried and packed in packaging\r\nfilms viz. high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and other packaging\r\nmaterials, Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with or without perforations) and\r\nsealed with an electronic sealing system after being dehumidified.\r\nAdditionally, chemically viz. 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D)\r\nand gibberellic acid (GA3), prepared fruits were also kept at (ambient) room\r\ntemperature. For analyzing, fruit samples were collected for various quality\r\nparameters after 7 days of interval of storage (0, 7th, 14th,\r\nand 21th). The results revealed that among the different treatments\r\nT4 (HDPE perforated) treatment was superior for characteristics like\r\nphenol content, TSS, total terrible acid, total sugars, reducing sugars, and\r\nnon-reducing sugars, as compared to other treatments studied. On the other\r\nhand, fruit pH and ascorbic acid were observed better in T6 and T3\r\nrespectively. It was concluded that the use of HDPE perforated packaging\r\nmaterial might be an effective and economical treatment for improving the\r\nquality of Mosambi fruit.