Modified Atmosphere Packaging of Capsicum for Extending Shelf Life Under Coolbot Condition

Capsicum is one of the high value vegetable crops in Nepal. Its demand in kitchen is increasing due to urbanization and increased awareness on its health benefit. Its commercial cultivation has been started in protected as well as open field conditions. It fetches higher price in market but has very short storage life under ordinary storage condition. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on extension of shelf-life of capsicum fruit. Fruit were harvested at full mature stage with smooth and shiny appearance from farmer's field grown under protected condition at Chitwan, Nepal. The fruits were brought to postharvest laboratory of National Horticulture Research Centre, pre-cooled for 3-4 hours, cleaned with muslin cloth and packed in 25 micron Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) packaging with different number of pinhole sized perforations viz. without pinholes, eight pinholes, sixteen pinholes, twenty four pinholes and control (without MAP). The study was conducted in completely randomized block design with five treatments and four replications. Fruits were kept at coolbot storage (9.8+2 ºC, 86+5% RH) till 30 days and analyzed for various postharvest physical, chemical and physiological parameters at every 10, 20 and 30 days of storage. The result showed that LDPE packaging influenced on reduction of physiological loss in weight (PLW), spoilage loss, ascorbic acid content, TA, freshness, firmness and shelf life. The modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) without pinholes showed the minimum PWL (1.71%) and the optimum fruit freshness (4.76) but the spoilage loss was the maximum (14%). Among the packaging, MAP with 8 pinholes maintained majority of postharvest quality retention with reduced physiological loss in weight (4.15 %), freshness (4.5) and spoilage loss (2%)

Effect of Wrapping Materials and Maturity Stages on Postharvest Loss Reduction of Papaya

Papaya fruits are vulnerable to high postharvest losses if harvesting and handling techniques are inappropriate. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in two consecutive years, 2019 and 2020, to assess the effects of wrapping materials and maturity stages on postharvest loss reduction of papaya stored at ambient condition. A factorial combination of four wrapping materials (brown paper, white paper, fiber bag, and control) and three maturity stages (MS2; few yellow streaks from base to stalk end of fruits, MS3; 1/2 ripe, and MS4; 3/4 ripe), using a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was used to carry out this experiment. The papaya fruits were evaluated for transportation weight loss, bruised fruit percent, physiological weight loss, decay percent, total soluble solids, firmness, and shelf life. The result revealed that wrapping materials significantly affected on the transportation weight loss, percent bruised fruit, decay percent, and shelf life. The stage of maturity had a significant effect on TSS and firmness of the fruit. However, the interaction of wrapping materials and maturity stages had a non-significant effect on all the parameters. Out of the four wrapping materials, brown paper wrapped fruits had the lowest bruised fruit (4.1%), the lowest decay (10.8%), and the highest shelf life (11.8 days), while MS2 showed the minimum bruised fruit (15.1%), decay (21.2%), and shelf life (12.8 days). Fruit harvested at MS2 wrapped with brown paper can reduce postharvest loss and improve shelf life of papaya