IMPROVING SHELF LIFE AND MAINTAINING QUALITY OF MANGO AND BANANA BY USING SYNTHESIZED CHITOSAN

ABSTRACT

Mango and banana both are extremely perishable fruits with a short shelf life and a considerable proportion of harvested mangoes and bananas become spoiled due to the postharvest decay. Application of edible chitosan coatings is a key step to reduce the loss of perishable commodities. The current study was designed to evaluate the effect of postharvest chitosan coating on maintaining fruit quality and shelf life of mango and banana during storage at ambient conditions. The fruit samples were coated with 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% chitosan solution. Untreated fruits were maintained as the control. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design with three replications of the treatments. Changes in different physico-chemical parameters were recorded to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatments in extending fruit shelf life and sustaining postharvest quality of mango and banana. Results revealed that weight loss of untreated mango fruits were almost 1.10 times higher than the average of the weight loss of the treated fruits. The change in color was faster in untreated mango fruits, whereas the slower changes in fruit color and firmness was recorded in the fruits treated with 0.5% chitosan. Application of chitosan at 0.5% significantly reduced physiological weight loss (%), total soluble solid (°Brix), titratable acidity (%), disease incidence (%), disease severity (%) along with maintained firmness and shelf life of mango compared to the untreated control. On the other hand, weight loss of untreated banana fruits were almost 1.15 times higher than the average of the weight loss of the chitosan treated fruits. When compared to the untreated control, the application of 0.5% chitosan considerably decreased physiological weight loss (%), total soluble solid (°Brix), titratable acidity (%), disease incidence (%), and disease severity (%) while maintaining the firmness and shelf life of banana. It could be concluded the 0.5% chitosan would be recommended as a postharvest treatment for fruits as mango and banana.

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