Effect of Storage Conditions on Fruit Quality and Durability of Sweet Orange Variety "Sisila"

Abstract

Current experiment was done at horticultural laboratory at Regional Agricultural Research and Development Center, Bandarawela to evaluate fruit quality and durability of sweet orange. Fruits at 50% maturity stage were selected and six different treatments were applied to find the best storage conditions. Treatments were ambient temperature packed in transparent polythene (T l), stored in ambient temperature packed in black polythene (T2), stored in ambient temperature without packing (T3), stored in refrigerator packed in transparent polythene (T4), stored in refrigerator packed in black polythene (T5) and stored in refrigerator without packing (T6). Physiological characters (weight, firmness, juice content and rotten %) and biochemical characters (TSS, pH and Acidity) of the initial and stored fruits were examined weekly for a period of 35 days. Sensory evaluation was conducted using 10 panelists to find out consumer preferences. According to the results, black polythene covered samples stored in refrigerator condition (T5) showed highest shelf life. During storage period, minimum weight losses (from 85.1g to 73.1g), highest TSS (11.2), gradually decreasing of firmness, increase of pH (from 2.6 ± 0.1) and reduction of pH (from 1.6 ± 0.1 to 1.2 ± 0.06) and 0% of rotten fruits were observed for fruits stored in refrigerator, packed in black polythene. Specially, glossy appearance and yellow colour similar to naturally ripen fruits was successfully developed in fruits of above treatment Sensory evaluation also proved the higher quality of black colour polythene covered fruit stored in refrigerator, by giving significantly higher peel colour appearance (98%), taste (88% ) and juice content (88%). Therefore, refrigeration of sweet orange packed in black polythene was the best storage condition.