The Effectiveness of Calcium Citrate for Improving the Quality and Extending the Shelf-Life of Winter Guava Fruits during Ambient Storage

Abstract

High profits can be achieved by using safe natural compounds to keep the quality of fresh fruit during storage, increase their suitability in the market, as well as generate chances for export to remote markets Therefore, this experiment was conducted in 2021 & 2022 seasons to evaluate the efficacy of Cacitrate to enhancing quality and prolonging shelf-life of winter guava. Fruits were harvested at maturity stage (yellowish-green), and dipped in different concentrations of calcium citrate solution at 0.5, 1 and 1.5%, in addition to control treatment (water only) for 5 minutes. Thereafter, the soaked fruits were stored under ambient conditions at 20±1°C and 70 ±5% RH for a duration of 15 days. The obtained results revealed that weight loss and decay of guava fruit were notably reduced by the use of calcium citrate compared to control. Also, fruit soaked in calcium citrate at 0.5, 1 and1.5% maintained their desirable physical and chemical quality when stored under ambient conditions. Specifically, using calcium citrate at 1.5% proved to be exceptionally effective in reducing weight loss, decay and delayed the decline in acidity, vitamin C, SSC% and SSC/acid ratio of winter guava fruits. Consequently, this treatment demonstrated superior findings such as extending the shelf life of guava fruit and preserving their post-harvest quality.