Determination of the effect of shelf life enhancers on the physio-chemical properties of fresh avocado fruits

Abstract

Waxing and calcium carbonate are among the improved post-harvest treatments currently available on market. Others include; Pre-packaging, Packaging, Cold chain Storage, Hot water, Low-density polyethylene and Corn starch biodegradable, and chemical treatments such as calcium chloride, edible gum arabic (GA), carboxymethyl cellulose, and moringa extract. Synthetic fungicides for instance copper-based fungicides such as copper hydrochloride, copper oxychloride, and prochloraz. Major postharvest losses of avocado fruits reported are due to insufficient pre-harvest conditions, insect pests and diseases, poor storage conditions, and poor handling along the value chain. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of shelflife enhances on the physio-chemical and quality parameters of avocado fruits. The study was conducted from August 2021 to September 2021. A simple randomized complete design was employed with three replications to arrange the experimental units in the laboratory. The results showed that avocado fruits coated with wax had a lower percentage of weight loss (0.702%) than CaCO3 (8.947%) and (9.504%), highest firmness (16.54N at the top, 18.13N in the middle, 18.25N at the bottom), compared to CaCO3 (5.872N at the top, 7.34N in the middle, 8.47 at the bottom) and control fruits (6.580N at the top, 7.42N in the middle and 8.47N at the bottom) and lowest TSS (1.9670Brix) compared to CaCO3 (2.9000Brix) and control (3.1670Brix). Even though the waxed avocado fruits took a longer period for ripening, wax coatings were the best and the most appropriate shelf-life enhancer during the study.