Pantnagar Journal of Research

Abstract

Guava fruits, being climacteric, tend to be rapidly perishable due to their high respiration rate and consequently ripen faster after harvesting. Therefore, to maintain their physiological and metabolic activities, freshly harvested green mature guava fruits were surface-coated with 10% arabic gum alone, with 2% calcium chloride as a texture enhancer, and with 1% hydrogen peroxide as a biocide. All the treated fruits, including the control, were kept at ambient storage temperature. It was observed that most coating formulations significantly improved various postharvest quality characteristics compared with untreated control fruits over a 15-day storage period. Among treatments, 10% arabic gum incorporated with both 2% calcium chloride and 1% hydrogen peroxide was found to be more effective in reducing the rate of weight loss, decay, and firmness, while also maintaining levels of total soluble solids, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, and organoleptic attributes during storage. As a result, it was revealed that the composite coating formulation of 10% arabic gum incorporated with 2% calcium chloride and 1% hydrogen peroxide performed best as compared to other coated treatments and could be used in delaying the ripening, maintaining the quality, and extending the shelf life of guava fruits by about three times as compared to uncoated control fruits.