CHANGES IN TEXTURE AND TOTAL SOLUBLE SOLIDS (TSS) CONTENT OF 'SEKAKI' AND 'EKSOTIKA' PAPAYA DURING STORAGE AT DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

Papaya is a tropical, climacteric fruit that undergoes ripening significantly after harvest. The ripening process is the result of several physico-chemical changes in fruits and is affected by storage temperatures. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in the total soluble solids (TSS) content and texture of papaya cultivars ‘Sekaki’ and ‘Eksotika’ during storage at four different temperatures (10, 15, 20 and 30°C). The results showed that total soluble solids content of ‘Sekaki’ and ‘Eksotika’ papaya increased as a function of storage time and temperature. TSS content for ‘Sekaki’ papaya stored at 10 and 15°C (14 days), 20°C (7 days) and 30°C (6 days) increased from 7.1±0.80°Brix to 9.4±0.63, 10.9±0.4, 10.1±0.44, and 10.4±0.50°Brix, respectively. On the other hand, TSS content of ‘Eksotika’ papaya increased from 8.8±0.46 to 10.4±0.95, 11.45±0.78, 12.33±0.35, and 13.12±0.62°Brix after storage at 10 and 15°C (16 days), 20°C (9 days) and 30°C (8 days), respectively. There were significant differences (P<0.05) in TSS content among fruits stored at 10, 20 and 30°C. Texture of ‘Sekaki’ and ‘Eksotika’ papaya significantly (p<0.05) decreased for fruits stored at 20°C (7 and 9 days, respectively for ‘Sekaki’ and ‘Eksotika’) and 30°C (6 and 8 days, respectively for ‘Sekaki’ and ‘Eksotika’). For ‘Sekaki’ papaya, it decreased significantly (p<0.05) from 18.58±0.61 to 3.89±0.96 and 5.10±1.01 N respectively, while for ‘Eksotika’ papaya it decreased significantly (p<0.05) from 20.33±0.52 to 4.50±0.87 N when stored at 20 and 30°C. No significant difference in fruit texture was observed when the fruits were stored at 10 and 15°C for both cultivars. The results of this study indicated that high storage temperatures (20 and 30°C) affected significantly the changes in TSS and texture of ‘Sekaki’ and ‘Eksotika’ papaya. On the other hand, low storage temperatures (10 and 15°C) affected changes in TSS content but not the texture.