Effect of the Different Surface Coatings and Packaging Materials for Shelf Life and Quality of Guava (Psidium guajava L.) CV. Allahabad Safeda

Aims: To evaluate the potentiality of surface coatings and packaging for achieving extended shelf life with enhance fruit quality attributes in Guava under ambient storage condition.

Study Design: The lab experiment conducted in complete randomized design three replications on Allahabad safeda of Guava.

Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was conducted during November 2019 at College of Horticulture, Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad.

Methodology: Guava freshly harvested fruits were coated with two different coatings Chitosan (1%), Aloe vera gel (25%) and three different packaging materials viz., Polypropylene 100 gauge, HDPE 50 microns and LDPE 50 microns comprising of six treatments with four replications in Completely Randomized Design. Periodically effects of surface coatings were observed for physiological loss in weight, Shelf Life (days), Firmness (Kg/cm2), Total Soluble Solids (%), Titrable Acidity (%), Ascorbic Acid (mg/100g), Total Sugars (%), Reducing Sugars (%), Non-Reducing Sugars (%).

Results: With respect to physical parameters, lowest decay percent (13.28%), minimum PLW (14.61%) was recorded in T2- Chitosan 1% + HDPE 50 microns and highest was recorded in T6- Aloe vera 25% + LDPE 50 microns (15.49% &18.80%) on 12th day of storage. Highest shelf life (12.91 days) was recorded in T2- Chitosan 1% + HDPE 50 microns which was at par with T5- Aloe vera 25%+ HDPE 50 microns (12.89 days) and lowest shelf life (11.25 days) was recorded in T1 - Chitosan 1% + PP 100 gauge. Highest TSS (10.33oB), From this study it could be concluded that surface coatings, packaging materials found to have influence on the shelf life and quality of guava. Among the packaging materials HDPE 50 microns was superior followed by PP 50 microns and LDPE 100 gauge.

Conclusion: The combined effect of surface coatings and packaging materials revealed that T2- Chitosan 1% + HDPE 50 microns followed by T5- Aloe vera 25%+ HDPE 50 microns were found to be superior over other treatments with respect to physical, shelf life and quality parameters.