Effect of maturity stages and postharvest treatments on physical properties of apple during storage

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of harvest dates and postharvest treatments on physical properties of apple cv Red delicious during storage. Fruits from three harvest dates (H1, H2 and H3) were subjected to various treatments such as T1 (shade cooling), T2 (Hydrocooling), T3 (Hydrocooling + calcium chloride), T4 (Hydrocooling + wax) and T5 (Hydrocooling + calcium chloride + wax) and were stored under ambient and refrigerated conditions for 100 days. Results showed the significant differences in physical properties including fruit length, fruit diameter, length/diameter (L/D) ratio, fruit weight and firmness in various treatments. Maximum fruit length and fruit diameter were observed at harvest date 2nd (H2), whereas, L/D ratio and fruit weight were observed at harvest date 3rd (H3) on the storage at zero day. Among the treatments T5 showed the % maximum fruit length, fruit diameter, L/D ratio and fruit weight. The firmness was decreased in all treatments and harvest dates during storage. The% maximum fruit firmness was exhibited by early harvested fruit (H1) at zero (0) day of storage. However, changes were more pronounced under ambient conditions than cold storage. Keywords: Apple, Storage, Physical properties, Hydrocooling, CaCl2