SOME VII. HARVESTING, STORAGE AND TRANSPORT OF MANGO - SOME PROBLEMS PERTAINING TO STORAGE AND RIPENING IN MANGO FRUIT

Storage of fruits and fruit products have turned out to be a challenging problem. Many reports have appeared about cold storage and ripening of mangoes (2, 6, 9, 13, 19). Although methods such as cold, gas, chemical storage have been developed none has proved effective for longer storage periods taking in view the palatability and keeping quality of such fruits (8, 19). The object of fruit storage is not only to prolong the life of the fruit but also to maintain the characteristics like flavour, taste and appearance. Very little is known about the mechanism of ripening and the storage condition necessary for preserving mangoes in unripe stage for longer periods. The physical environmental conditions, such as temperature affect the quality of the fruit to a considerable extent. In most of the fruits stored at and below 4°C chilling injury is evident. This is also associated with the development of microbial infection, resulting therefore in lot of wastage in the fruits stored in such conditions. Raychoudhuri and Thirumalachar (18) were successful in prolonging the storage of fruits by the use of an antifungal antibiotic, aureofungin treatment before coating with wax emulsions and gradually adapting the fruits to low temperature.

The factors responsible for the spoilage, due to the development of chilling injury and spongy tissue have been investigated.

Alfanso mangoes for this enquiry were collected from Bulsar district of Gujarat State (India). The mature unripe mangoes were picked from the trees and were transported to the laboratory within 24 hours. Immediately these were cleaned and used for different treatments and analysis. The other varieties of mangoes used during this investigation were purchased from the local market.