Study on different postharvest treatments for improving shelf life and quality of Papaya fruit (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red Lady

Abstract

The Present investigation was carried out at Post Harvest Laboratory, College of Horticulture, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture And Technology, Modipuram, Meerut to study the “Study on different post harvest treatment for improving shelf life and quality of Papaya fruit (Carica papaya L.) cv. Red lady”. The Experiment was conducted in a Completely Randomized Design with 10 treatments viz. T0- Control, T1- Ethrel 500 ppm, T2- Ethrel 700 ppm, T3- Aloevera gel 1.0 % , T4- Aloevera gel 1.5 % , T5- Corn Starch 1.0 % , T6- Corn Starch 1.5 % , T7- Cassava Starch 1.0 % , T8- Cassava Starch 1.5 % , T9- (Corn Starch 1.5 % + Cassava Starch 1.5 %) and their three replications, during the year 2023. Aloevera gel 1.5 % treated fruits showed the better results followed by the Aloevera gel 1.0 %. This coating reduced the transpiration rate and slowed down the ethylene production resulting in the increase in shelf life of fruits. The Papaya fruits treated with Corn Starch 1.5 % was also found to be significantly good treatents over the Control in resprect of storage quality and shelf life of Papaya fruits during the storage. Ethrel 700 ppm also showed the better results in maintaining the attractive appearance of the fruit.Based on the results obtained , it can be concluded thar Aloevera gel 1.5 % was found to be most appropriate treatment in papaya cv. Red Lady. Therefore it can be used in Papaya cv. Red Lady for physiochemical traits, storage , shelflife and quality maintaining