TITLE:
Pre-harvest fruit bagging influences fruit color and quality of apple cv. Delicious
AUTHORS:
Ram Roshan Sharma, Ram Krishna Pal, Ram Asrey, Vidya Ram Sagar, Mast Ram Dhiman, Mani Ram Rana
KEYWORDS:
Apple; Fruit Bagging; Color; Firmness; LOX Activity; AOX Activity; Fruit Quality
JOURNAL NAME:
Agricultural Sciences,
Vol.4 No.9,
August
27,
2013
ABSTRACT: An
attempt was made to observe the effect of pre-harvest bagging with spun-bound
fabric bags on color and quality of Delicious apple. Bagging was done about a
month before harvesting and removed 3-day before harvesting. Bagged and
non-bagged fruits were stored at 2℃ ± 1℃ and 90%-95% RH. Observations were
recorded on color and fruit quality attributes such as total phenolics, AOX
activity, fruit Ca contents, LOX activity, SSC and ascorbic acid contents at
harvest and during storage. Our studies have revealed that bagged fruits have
better color development (Hunter “a” = 52) than non-bagged fruits at harvest
(Hunter “a” = 38), which declined slightly during storage. Similarly, at harvest, bagged fruits contained high amounts
of Ca (5.38 mg/100g)
and total phenolics (9.3 mg GAE/100gpulp) exhibited higher AOX activity (12.6 μmoles Trolox g-1), and
had better SSC and ascorbic acid contents than non-bagged fruits, and there was
a decline in all recorded parameters during storage. Bagged fruits exhibited
lower LOX activity (1.38 μmoles min-1 g-1 FW) at
harvest than non-bagged fruits (2.14 μmoles min-1 g-1 FW), indicating that non-bagged fruits were more senescent than bagged fruits. Further, LOX activity increased
during storage both in bagged and non-bagged apples but
increase in LOX activity was slower in bagged apples than in non-bagged apples.