PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES AND SHELF LIFE OF LITCHI AS INFLUENCED BY VARIOUS POST-HARVEST MANAGEMENT

Abstract

The experiment was carried out at the Post-harvest Laboratory, Dr. M.A. Wazed Miah Research Centre, Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with three replications. The present research was conducted on the aspect of shelf life of litchi through six postharvest

treatments (T 0 : Control; T 1 : CaCl 2 dips; T : Oxalic acid 2mM + Bavistin dips; T 3 : Ice dips; T 4 :

2 Ice + Oxalic acid 2mM + 0.05% Bavistin dips; T 5: Ice + Oxalic acid 2mM dips; T 6 : Clean water dips), 2 post-harvest packaging system (P 0 :Non Packaging; P

1 : LDPE Packaging) and 2 temperature management (C 0

: Ambient temperature, 26±1 C temperature). Results revealed that the lowest pericarp browning (0.00%, 0.00%, 5.00%, 10.00%, 20.00% and 40.00% at 3th, 6th, 12th, 18th, 24th, and 30th days after storage respectively) was found when litchi fruits treated with Ice and 2mM oxalic acid with 0.05% fungicide (Bavistin) solution and packaged with LDPE bag and stored at 5 0 C temperature (T 4 P 1 C ). Again the highest amount of vitamin C content (26.89 mg/100g at the end of shelf life) and the longest shelf life was observed in T 1 The best performance was observed in the hydro cooled litchi fruits dipped into 2mM oxalic acid with 0.05% fungicide (Bavistin) solution and packaged with LDPE bag and stored at 5 0 C for long term storage.

0 C; C 1 : 5 4 P 1 0 C 1.