Effect of Post-harvest Treatments on the Shelf Life of Guava Fruit (Psidium guajava L.) cv. Dhawal

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at Post harvest Laboratory, College of Horticulture, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, India. The study was conducted in a completely randomized design with 11 treatments viz. T0- Control, T1- Aloe vera gel 1%, T2-  Aloe vera gel 2%, T3- Corn starch (0.5%), T4- Corn starch 1%, T5- Cassava starch 1% with sunflower oil, T6- Cassava starch 2% with sunflower oil, T7- Cassava starch 3% with sunflower oil, T8- CaNO3 (0.5%), T9- CaNO3 1%, T10- Cassava starch 1% with sunflower oil and bee wax all of which were triplicated was conducted during the year 2023.  The study faces several challenges, one of the primary difficulties being the need to ensure uniformity in applying the various physico-chemical treatments to the guava fruits in order to obtain reliable and comparable results. Additionally, controlling external factors like temperature and humidity during the postharvest period poses a significant challenge, as these factors must be managed carefully to accurately evaluate the impact of the treatments on the fruit's quality and shelf life. Out of 11 treatments applied the fruits treated with Corn starch (1%) and Corn starch (0.5%) had significantly better fruit quality over other treatments in respect of parameters i.e., Physiological loss in weight, Decay percent, Fruit firmness, Sensory evaluation test, T.S.S., pH, Titrability acidity and reducing sugar. The Aloe vera gel were also found to be significantly superior treatments over the control in respect of storage quality and shelf- life. Based on results obtained in the present study, it can be concluded that Corn starch 1% was found to be the most appropriate treatment in Guava cv. Dhawal on account of better shelf- life. Therefore, Corn starch 1% can be adopted with great success in Guava cv. Dhawal for physico-chemical traits, storage, quality and shelf-life on commercial scale.