Individual shrink wrapping of papaya fruits (cv. Taiwan Red Lady) for extension of storage life and quality maintenance

Abstract

Mature green ‘Taiwan Red Lady’ papayas individually shrink wrapped in three different types of polymeric films. viz., BDF-2001, D-955 and PE were stored at 13 ºC, 18 ºC and RT to study its effect on extension of storage life, alleviation of chilling injury and quality parameters (Total antioxidant capacity, Ascorbic acid, Total carotenoids, Lycopene, Phenols, firmness and surface colour development). The rates of respiration, ethylene production of unpacked fruits during ripening after different intervals of storage were measured to study the physiological response of papaya to shrink-wrapping and storage temperature. The storage life of papaya could be extended to 2, 3 and 4 weeks at RT, 18 ºC and 13 ºC respectively followed by 3 to 4 days for ripening after unpacking the fruits. Shrink-wrapping prevented the development of chilling injury during 4 weeks of storage at 13 ºC where as non-wrapped fruits exhibited chilling injury symptoms after 2 weeks of storage. The respiration behaviour of shrink-wrapped fruits during ripening after different intervals of storage was normal exhibiting typical climacteric peaks at all the storage temperatures. Among the different films tried the appearance of fruits was better in PE and D-955 wrapped films, whereas the surface colour development was poor when wrapped in BDF-2001 film at all the storage temperatures. The quality parameters of fruits in terms of antioxidant capacity, total phenols and carotenoids were also better in fruits wrapped with the former films compared to the latter. However, at RT the Vit-C and caratenoids retained better when the fruits were wrapped with BDF film.