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Pak. J. Bot., 40(4): 1587-1593, 2008. |
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Updated: 09-07-09 |
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MANGO FRUIT DESAPPING IN RELATION TO TIME OF HARVESTING
MUHAMMAD AMIN1, AMAN ULLAH MALIK1 , MUHAMMAD SOHAIL MAZHAR1, ISLAM-UD-DIN2, MUHAMMAD SHAFIQUE KHALID1 AND SAEED AHMAD1
Abstract: Sapburn injury is regarded as the most serious threat to external fruit quality of mango. When the stem (pedicel) of a mango fruit is broken, the sap exudes out; spreading over the fruit peel causes serious skin damages. This study was intended to determine the best time of harvest and desapping for maximum control of sapburn injury in mango fruits. The performance of lime [Ca(OH)2] was evaluated at different times of the day in comparison with Australian industry product “Mango Wash”. The fruits were harvested at three different times of the day: morning (7 a.m.), noon (12 p.m.) and evening (5 p.m.) and subjected to lime (@ 0.5%) and Mango Wash (@ 0.4%) treatments. No sap injury (0 score) was observed in the fruits harvested and de-sapped during morning whereas maximum sap injury was observed at noon in both the cases (0.5 score for lime, 0.75 score for Mango Wash). Both lime and Mango Wash showed significantly less sap injury as compared to control for all the three times of treatment application. Almost all of the physico-chemical attributes (except fruit peel colour and non-reducing sugar contents) were non-significantly affected by the desapping treatments. Fruit peel colour was slightly suppressed by Mango Wash. Lime was found to impart attractive appearance to the fruits; however the skin colour was not significantly improved as compared to control. The time of fruit harvest also exerted non significant effects on most of the fruit quality attributes. Significantly higher TSS value was measured in the fruit harvested at noon as compared to other times of the day. Minimum sapburn injury in the fruits harvested and desapped in the morning hours led to the conclusion that morning is the best time of harvest and desapping for the mangoes. Moreover, the potential of lime for controlling sapburn injury in mangoes was also confirmed and it was concluded that lime can be successfully used for mango fruit desapping as a substitute of highly expensive Mango Wash.
1Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan 2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan Corresponding author: malikaman1@yahoo.com |
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