Effect of Preharvest Spray on Shelf Life and Quality of Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa)

Author: Bijayanka Baidya, Sukanya Misra and Bijoya Sur

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Abstract

Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa), belongs to the family Rosaceae has basic Chromosome no. (2n) = 56 is generally originated from France, in the 1750s. It is an important fruit crop of India and its commercial production is possible in temperate and sub-tropical areas of the country including the Terai region of West Bengal. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of pre harvests spray on shelf life of fruit and to study the shelf life and quality of the fruit as influenced by pre-harvest spray. Total number of treatment was five and replication was also five and the experimental design was RBD. Parameters like length of fruit, breadth of fruit, fruit weight, fruit colour, penetration force, physiological loss in weight and biochemical parameters like Total soluble solid (ºBrix), Total sugar (%), Reducing sugar (%), Titratable acidity (%), Ascorbic acid content (mg/100g of pulp). The challenge of this study is not only increasing shelf life of fruits and but also discovering the treatment which maintain quality after harvest as well as increased shelf life. Here the T5 CaCl2 spray treatment performed best in terms of least physiological weight loss, most total soluble solid, lowering sugar, and total sugar. Fruits from T5 were also discovered to have texture retention after 3 days of storage and to have lower acidity.

Keywords

Shelf life, Pre harvest spray, Biochemical parameter, RBC design, Quality of fruit

Conclusion

From this experiment we can conclude that treatment T5 CaCl2 spray showed the best result with respect to minimum loss in physiological weight, maximum total soluble solid, reducing sugar and total sugar. Fruits from T5 also found to retain its texture after 3 days of storage and the fruit were less acidity. Vit-C content in T5 was marginally less than other CaCl2 treated fruits. Considering all parameters under study it is further concluded that T2 was second best treatment with respect to less physiological loss in weight, better texture analyzer (60.768 kPa), total sugar as well as highest Vit-C content (57.9864).

References

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How to cite this article

Bijayanka Baidya, Sukanya Misra and Bijoya Sur (2023). Effect of Preharvest Spray on Shelf Life and Quality of Strawberry (Fragaria ananassa). Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(2): 29-34.