EFFECT OF POST-HARVEST TREATMENT AND PACKAGING ON THE KEEPING QUALITY OF FRESH GUAVA FRUIT

Freshly harvested guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit were treated with a fungicide and skin coating (mixed sucrose esters of fatty acids) and stored at 4.5°C for different periods.
Similar fruit were packed into different types of perforated and non-perforated polyethylene bags and stored at 4.5°C, 10°C and 20°C for different periods.
The maximum storage life of guavas was 2 weeks at 4.5°C and the application of a skin coating had no effect on keeping quality. Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Mucor piriformis, Phomopsis psidii and Penicillium expansum were isolated from decayed fruit.
Non-perforated polyethylene bags maintained fruit quality better than perforated bags.
Poly-ethylene bags impregnated with a natural mineral compound absorbed free moisture in the packs and created a modified atmosphere which increased shelf-life.
Despite a modified atmosphere in non-perforated regular bags, impregnated bags had a greater beneficial effect on keeping quality than regular bags.

International Symposium on the Culture of Subtropical and Tropical Fruits and Crops

J.C. Combrink, Selma L. de Kock, Coreen J. van Eeden

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1990.275.79