Effect of Polythene Bag Storage on Shelflife and Quality of Wax Apple (Syzygium samarangense Merr. and Perry)

The shelf-life and quality of wax apple fruits were studied using polythene bag of 250 gauge with different ventilation (0.50 and 1.00%) both at ambient as well as refrigeration condition during 2007 at College of Horticulture, Mudigere. The experiment was conducted with eight treatments and four replications. The data were analyzed by adopting Completely Randomized Design. The study revealed that the fruits in refrigeration storage with ventilated polythene bags showed good shelf life compared to fruits stored in ambient condition with ventilated polythene bags. The maximum shelf life, delayed rotting and optimum fruit quality of wax apple were observed in 1.00 and 0.50% ventilation at refrigeration storage followed by 1.00% ventilation at ambient storage. The fruits stored without polythene bags both at ambient and refrigeration had lowest shelf life and shrunk compared to ventilated polythene bag storage. The fruits stored with no ventilation in polythene bags both at ambient and refrigeration rotted early and was unacceptable due to poor fruit quality and strong aldehydic flavour when compared to ventilated storage bag. The sensory evaluation revealed that, fruits stored in ventilated polythene bags had better orgenoleptic quality both in ambient as well as refrigeration storage condition compared to fruits stored without polythene bags.