Wrapping materials and their effect on postharvest performance of ‘Femminello Siracusano’ lemon

Farmers in resource-poor areas suffer substantial losses due to inadequate infrastructure for preserving the quality of fresh produce after harvest.
To address this issue, investigating simple and affordable solutions is essential.
In this study, we assessed the effects of various wrapping materials on the quality and shelf life of ‘Femminello Siracusano’ lemons stored at room temperature in Afghanistan.
Mature lemon fruits were exposed to either room ambient (control) or wrapped in paper towels or paper towels combined with perforated polyethylene film, and their impacts were assessed every 7 days for 35 days.
Parameters evaluated included marketability, weight loss, spoilage loss, total soluble solids (TSS), juice taste, and firmness.
The results showed that wrapping the fruits with paper towels and perforated polyethylene film significantly retarded weight loss and maintained high marketability, firmness, TSS, and taste with no incidence of fruit spoilage.
After 35 days, the fruits wrapped in paper towels and polyethylene had the lowest weight loss (11.3%) compared to the weight loss of the control (27.4%) and paper towel (36.4%) treatments.
Similarly, the fruits of paper towels combined with the polyethylene wrap were highly marketable, while those of other treatments tended to be moderately and low marketable during the final measurement.
All fruits of the control treatment were bitter at the last measurement, but fruits in other treatments maintained their sour taste.
These preliminary findings suggest that using paper towels and polyethylene wrapping could be a practical method for the farmers in the study area seeking to preserve the quality and extend the shelf life of their harvested lemons.

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

Z. Hejazi, A. Zerak, T. Zahid

Afghanistan fruits, citrus, marketability, paper towel, shelf life

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.100