Abstract
Mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is a premier fruit crop expanding rapidly in the hilly areas of Nepal. Most of the mandarin growers in Nepal are using conventional harvesting method which is responsible for deteriorating the fruit quality and shortening the postharvest shelf life. Thus, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different harvesting methods on quality and shelf-life of mandarin during storage under the Cellar condition (11±2°C and 85-90% RH). For this, mandarin fruits harvested by different methods i.e. hitting by sticks, direct pulling, twisting and pulling, and clipping were stored for 90 days and fortnight interval reading of different quality parameters were carried out. The experimental results revealed that fruits harvested by clipper with small pedicel intact recorded the minimum PLW (3.15%), decay loss (8.33%), and TSS (10.57° Brix) and retained the higher fruit firmness (3.30 kg/cm2), maximum juice recovery percentage (49.69), TA (0.85%) and vitamin C (25.50 mg/100 ml) during the storage under Cellar condition. The study concluded that fruits harvesting with clipper can be stored safely up to three months under the Cellar condition.
Highlights
Mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is a leading fruit crop in Nepal due to its social and economic value
The loss in weight was minimum in the fruits harvested by clipper (0.17%) and maximum in the fruits harvested by sticks (2.05%) in first fortnight and the percentage weight loss was minimum in the fruits harvested with clipper (3.15%) and maximum weight loss was observed in the fruits harvested by sticks (15.81%) at the end of the storage
Similar result was drawn by Singh et al [15] in mango fruits who observed decay loss, stem end rot was less in the fruits harvested with stalk
Summary
Mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) is a leading fruit crop in Nepal due to its social and economic value. The crop dominates to the total fruit industry in Nepal, quality of the fruit deteriorates with poor practices of harvesting and postharvest techniques. Harvesting of the mandarin determines the marketability of the fruits. It is our bitter experience that people are generally used sticks to harvest mature fruits in the orchards which deteriorates the fruit quality and shelf life of the fruits and fetches poor price in the market. The methods of harvesting, injury to fruit during harvesting, and weather conditions during harvest greatly determine the extent of decay losses during subsequent handling and storage [7]. In Nepalese context, most of the orchardists are using hands and stick to harvest the fruits which are prone to spoil and subsequent results poor quality. This study was International Journal of Science and Qualitative Analysis 2020; 6(1): 8-12 conducted to find out the effective harvesting methods on storage behaviour in cellar condition
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