Fungal Diversity and Physicochemical Changes in Fresh Fruits During Storage at Ambient Room Conditions

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the effect of short-term postharvest storage on the fungal diversity and physicochemical and sensory quality of fresh fruits viz. apple, banana, grapes, guava and mango. The fruits were stored at ambient room temperature (28°C) and evaluated for fungal diversity, total fungal and bacterial counts, moisture content, water activity (aw), vitamin C content and sensory characteristics such as appearance, odour, taste, texture and overall acceptability at the initial (0 day), 7 and 14 days of storage. The dominant fungal genera isolated from all the fruits were Aspergillus niger (35.38%), Penicillium spp. (28.24%), Rhizopus stolonifer (25.35%) and Aspergillus flavus (21.35%) after 14 days of storage. Both the total fungal and bacterial counts increased significantly over storage time. However, the percent moisture content and aw level of all the fruits decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 14 days storage. The storage time did not significantly (P > 0.05) affect the vitamin C content of fruits. Regarding sensory quality, apple got the highest score for appearance, odour, taste, texture, and overall acceptability followed by grapes whereas banana and guava got the lowest score for overall acceptability after 14 days storage. It was concluded that, at ambient room temperature a diversity of fungal species attacks fresh fruits and their shelf life, nutritional and sensory quality start deteriorating as early as after 3 days of storage.