Effect of calcium chloride treatment on post harvest quality of peach fruit during cold storage

Abstract

This study was carried out on the effectiveness of calcium chloride (CaCl 2 ) treatments on the post harvest quality of peach fruits during cold storage at 10 o C and 75 ± 5% RH. Different solutions of CaCl 2 such as 1% (T 1 ), 2% (T 2 ) and 3% (T 3 ) were prepared and the fruits were dipped for five minutes, while (T o ) was left with out calcium chloride treatment as control. The fruits were packed in corrugated soft board cartons (24״ x 12״ x 08״ dimension) and stored at 10 o C. The physicochemical analysis such as weight loss, fruit firmness, Total Soluble Solids (TSS), decay index and ascorbic acid content were determined at an interval of four days. Statistical analysis showed that storage intervals and treatments have significant retention (P < 0.05) effects on the quality parameters of the peach fruits during cold storage. A significant decrease was observed in fruit firmness (1.9-0.6 kg) and ascorbic acid content (6.76-2.89 mg/100g), while a significant increase was observed in TSS (8.3-12.2 o brix), decay index (043.83%) and % weight loss (0-11.92) during cold storage. Results showed that one and two percent calcium chloride treated fruits have little improvement while fruits treated with 3% calcium chloride were found to be most acceptable as per physicochemical analyses.