Effect of Modified Atmosphere Packaging on Shelf Life and Quality of 'Bhagwa' Pomegranate in Cold Storage

Effect of modified atmosphere packaging on the extension of storage life and quality maintenance of pomegranate (cv. ‘Bhagwa’) at ambient and low temperatures

“…MA packed fruits especially those packed in D-955 and LDPE film were fresh with bright red peel colour and secured high appearance scores after 3 weeks at ambient and 3 months at 8°C storage. Visual appearance was also reported to be maintained well in MA packed pomegranate fruits of 'Bhagwa' cultivar up to 90 days at 4 ± 1°C (Kumar et al 2013), individual shrink wrapped fruits of 'Wonderful' cultivar after 4 months at 7 ± 0.5°C (Mphahlele et al 2016) and 'Ganesh' cultivar after 12 weeks at 8°C (Nanda et al 2001) compared to non wrapped fruits. MA packed fruits (D-955, LDPE or RD-106) stored at both temperatures also got better scores for aril colour, aril texture and taste.…”

“…Better scores obtained for above treatments could be attributed to better quality retention in terms of surface colour, peel moisture, TSS, acidity and sugars as discussed earlier. However, the same 'Bhagwa' cultivar when stored at 4 ± 1°C recorded better overall organoleptic scores for up to 60 days only with the best MA pack of StePac, Xtend Ò film (Kumar et al 2013). In the present investigation, in case of BDF-film packed fruits, fading of peel colour and poor taste were observed at both storage temperatures.…”

“…with increase in storage duration. Similar increased moisture condensation in PP bags compared to more permeable (higher WVTR) Xtend Ò film resulted in higher spoilage of 'Bhagwa' pomegranates stored at 4 ± 1°C especially with increased storage duration (Kumar et al 2013). Though RD-106 is an antifog film, the spoilage could not be controlled as free water droplet formation by vapour condensation also occurred in this film after certain storage duration.…”

“…Among films used, PLW was slightly higher in RD-106 film packed fruits compared to those packed in other films at both temperatures. Minimum PLW (%) was also observed in 'Bhagwa' cultivar during storage at 4 ± 1°C when the fruits were packed in PP bags (Kumar et al 2013). Though pomegranate peel looks thick and tough, it has numerous minute openings (Elyatem and Kader 1984) which permit free water vapour movement making nonpacked fruits more susceptible to water loss.…”

“…MAP also prevents weight loss and fruit shriveling by creating a higher RH in surrounding environment of the produce. MAP has been successfully applied for reducing water loss, shrinkage, scald development, decay and maintaining the fruit quality for 3 months or more in 'Mollar de Elche' (Artés et al 2000), 'Primosole' (D'Aquino et al 2010), 'Bhagwa' (Kumar et al 2013), 'Hicrannar' (Selcuk and Erkan 2014), 'Wonderful' (Porat et al 2016) and 'Beynarı' (Selcuk and Erkan 2016) cultivars of pomegranates at different storage temperatures. However, pomegranate cultivars responded differently to MAP, i.e., 'Hicrannar' cultivar could be stored up to 100 days without decay or weight loss using MAP (Selcuk and Erkan 2014) whereas same authors (Selcuk and Erkan 2015) could successfully store 'Hicaznar' cultivar of pomegranates up to 180 days by MAP with less weight loss or decay.…”