Effects of Storage Conditions, Fruit Coatings and Packaging on the Marketable Life of Passionfruit

Abstract

Samples of passion fruit were coated with “Semperfresh”, a commercially available fruit coating, at three concentrations or packed in polyethylene bags and stored at 7°C or 10°C and 60%, 83%, or 97% rh. Samples stored in polyethylene bags or those coated with 1 % “Semperfresh” had lower weight losses, less shriveling and were sweeter but were more moldy compared to control fruit. At 60% rh fruit coated with “Semperfresh” had lower weight losses than controls while those stored at 96% rh had similar weight losses. Moisture was lost mainly from the skin rather than the pulp, and shriveled samples had a similar flavour to that of smooth ones. Storage of fruit in polyethylene bags was shown to reduce moisture loss and shriveling and extend storage life to 28 days without adversely affecting the internal quality.