Effect of various pre-harvest treatments on shelf life and morphological characteristics of fruits of mango (Mangifera indica L.) var. ‘Amrapali’

Abstract

The mango is considered as ‘king of fruits’ in India due to its delicious taste and nutritional status. Extension of fruit shelf life is a prime importance for availability of fresh fruit in market for longer duration and distance transportation. India is the largest producer and a prominent exporter of mango in the world.In this context, the study was conducted to evaluate the effect of preharvest spray of different chemicals and plant growth regulators (PGRs) on mango var. ‘Amrapali’ for shelf life and its quality. As ‘Amrapali’ has regular bearer with very good flavor and taste with a late maturing character, selected for shelf life studies. The fruits of mango weresprayed with chemicals viz. CaCl₂ 1%, CaCl₂ 2%, Ca(NO₃)₂ 1%, Ca(NO₃)₂ 2%, KNO₃ 1%, KNO₃ 2%, GA₃ 25 mg/l, GA₃ 50 mg/l, Ethrel 0.1 ml/l and Ethrel 0.2 ml/l prior to harvest. After harvesting, fruits were stored under ambient storage condition. Among all the treatments, GA₃ 25 mg/l treatment recorded significantly highest fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit volume and fruit weight at harvest and at fully ripe stage. Application of CaCl₂
2% resulted in significantly minimum physiological loss in weight consistently from 2nd day to 16th day of storage besides significantly highest shelf life and quality. Hence, this intervention can contribute in preserving physical and chemical quality attributes for maximum acceptance by consumers.