Preharvest treatment to increase postharvest quality of hot pepper

Hot pepper (cayenne pepper) is an important commodity in Indonesia.
One problem in its production is high postharvest losses that are mainly caused by anthracnose.
An experiment has been carried out to improve postharvest quality and prolong post-harvest life of cayenne cultivar ‘Loblita’. The treatment consisted of benzyl-amino purine (BAP) 20 ppm, calcium chloride (CaCl₂) 2%, chitosan 0.5% and control.
The experiment used a complete randomized block design with 4 replications.
The plants at the mature fruits stage were sprayed by treatment once a week for four weeks.
The fruit were harvested every three days then observed for their postharvest quality for 12 days in the laboratory with room temperature.
The results showed that CaCl₂ 2% and chitosan 0.5% gave better results than BAP 20 ppm and control by increasing the healthy fruits percentage at the harvest and decreasing the fruit weight losses.
The percentage of healthy fruit at the harvest increased about 4.2% on CaCl₂ and 5.3% on chitosan treatments.
Surprisingly, weight loss at 12 days after harvest decreased to 40% on chitosan treatment while it reached up to 62% in control, 64% in BAP 20 ppm, and 58% in CaCl₂ treatment.

IV Asian Horticultural Congress – AHC2023

D. Sukma, D. Efendi, E. Gunawan, A. Maharijaya, D.D. Matra, F. Rahmadi

benzyl-amino purine (BAP), calcium chloride (CaCl₂), chitosan, healthy fruits, weight losses

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1404.58