Post-harvest quality of ’Mauritius' pineapple and reasons for reduced quality.

Abstract

Studies were conducted with the objective of assessing the quality of pineapple, as affected by the stage of maturity at harvest and to find out the reasons for poor quality off pineapple available in the market. A survey was conducted using twenty-five pineapple growers in Campaha district. Stage of maturity at harvest, method of harvesting, method of ripening, method of transport and special handling practices adopted by farmers were compared with those recommended by the Department off Agriculture. Quality comparison between market sample and fruits harvested according to recommended practices was also carried out, to find out the effect of post-harvest handling practices on quality. Quality parameters such as Total soluble solids (TSS), Titratable acidity (TA), pH, Sensory evaluation, Visual quality rating (VQR) and Disease incidence (DI) were considered for this study. The TSS of fully ripe pineapples harvested at recommended stage and farmer practice was 17.3 and 14.7 respectively. In addition, TA of fruits harvested using farmer practice was 0.65% and it was reduced to ®«54% with fruits harvested at the recommended stage of maturity. Similarly, flesh colour was bright yellow in fruits harvested at recommended maturity stage. Sensory evaluation results showed a significant increase in overall acceptability of fruits harvested at recommended stage, compared to those harvested at farmers’ practice.