Combined Effects of Pre-cooling, Application of Natural Extracts and Packaging on the Storage Quality of Apple (<i>Malus domestica</i>) cv. Royal Delicious

Abstract

During recent years, global concern for protection of the environment has led researchers to investigate the use of natural flora as one of the sources for crop protection. The present investigation was also directed to find out the natural and ecofriendly fruit coating, package and storage alternatives for the extension of the storage life of apple (Malus domestica) cv. 'Royal Delicious'. Surface coating of apple with 1, 1.5, 2% neem oil (Azadirachta indica) and 10, 15, 20% extracts of marigold flower (Tagetes erectus), along with pre-cooling were tested on the storage quality of the fruit. The fruits were analyzed for physicochemical and physiological characters such as loss in weight, fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS) content, titratable acidity (TA), pH, content of reducing sugars, pectin, total anthocyanin and polygalacturonase (PG) activity. They were also analyzed for fruit spoilage. The results revealed that, surface-coating of apple with 1.5-2% concentration of neem oil along with pre-cooling was the most effective in providing better physico-chemical umbrella, effectively lowering fruit softening and PG enzyme activity, and significantly lowering fruit spoilage during storage. Similarly, packaging of fruits with corrugated fiber board (CFB) boxes + paper mould trays, CFB + Polyethylene (PE) liners and shrink-wrapped tray packing during storage (2±1°C and 85-90% RH), showed that the surface-coating of apple with 2% neem oil together with shrink-wrapped tray packing provided better retention of storage life of fruit and the treatment effect on physico-chemical characteristics of fruits were significant.

Antifungal Activity of Skin Coatings against Post Harvest Rots of Apple Cultivar Starking Delicious

“…Perusal of data presented in Table 1 revealed that skin coating with 1% neem oil provided complete control of all the fungal decays under study. Similar observations were recorded by Wijewardane and Guleria (2009). Steinhauer (1987) isolated a compound with antifungal activity from neem kernal extracts which has been used for the control of phytopathogenic fungi such as Penicillium expansum.…”

Extension of the shelf life of guava by individual packaging with cling and shrink films

“…Mahajan et al (2013) detected least PLW (3.5 %) in shrink packed pear fruits as compared to unpacked control fruits (6.20 %). Maximum moisture retention (87.4 %) reported in plastic bag wrapped guava stored at 16°C in shrink wrapped Royal-delicious apples and in Nagpur Mandarin (Miano and Jokhio 2010;Wijewardane and Guleria 2009) may be due to retardation in respiration, evapo-transpiration and metabolic processes. The impact of LDPE film used in present study was comparative to HDPE film in PLW reduction of packed grape fruits, Shamouti orange and lemons (Jawandha et al 2012).…”

“…Shrink film maintained superior quality of pear fruits by significant reductions in weight loss, total soluble solids, desired firmness and extended storage life up to 3 weeks in contrast to LDPE and HDPE films (Mahajan et al 2013). Packaging of apples with CFB boxes, polyethylene liners and shrink wrapped tray in storage conditions (2±1°C, 85-90 % RH) have desired effect on physico-chemical characteristics and retained better storage life (Wijewardane and Guleria 2009).…”

Effect of Crown Material, Implant Platform and Abutment Design on the Stress Distribution Around Implant-Supported Dental Restorations: A Systematic.

“…The satisfactory control of the fungal diseases by using various chemicals has been documented in the literature (Choulwar et al, 1988, Maheshwari at al, .1991, Abdul et al, 1995. However, global concern for protection of the environment has led researchers to investigate the use of natural flora as one of the sources for crop protection (Wijewardane et al,. 2009).…”