EFFECTIVENESS OF PRE-HARVEST FRUIT BAGGING IN CITRUS CROP: PROTECTION OF CITRUS AGAINST FRUIT FLIES, BLEMISHES AND DISEASES AND IMPACT ON PHYSIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF CITRUS.

Current study was conducted at Citrus Research Institute, Sargodha, Pakistan during 2020 to determine the effectiveness of different fruit bagging materials to reduce the fruit fly infestation and also to check their impact on skin color of developing fruits and also upon the fruit quality in citrus variety "kinnow mandarin". The fruits were covered with four types of bagging materials such as perforated polyethylene, butter paper, muslin cloth bag and brown paper. No fruit fly infestation was observed in fruits covered with different types of bags as compared with unwrapped fruits. However, 12.43% fruit fly infestation was recorded in non wrapped bags. Fruits covered with brown paper bags and butter paper bags did not show any blemish problem and were also free from citrus canker. Bagging with perforated polyethylene, brown paper and butter paper materials also resulted in improving the fruit colour. None of the bagging material resulted in increase in fruit size (length x width) and fruit weight in citrus fruits. Statistically, the highest amount of juice weight (54.22 g) was detected in fruits enveloped in brown papers followed by butter paper bag (53.31 g), perforated polyethylene bags (50.89 g), muslin cloth bag (48.43 g) and non-bagged (47.43 g) fruits. The highest amount of TSS was found in fruits wrapped in brown paper bags (11.67%) followed by muslin cloth bag (11.41%) and were statistically at par with each other but significantly different with perforated polyethylene bags (11.11%), butter paper bags (10.35%) and un-wrapped fruits (10.60%). Lowest (0.87%) and highest (1.02%) acidity was observed in fruits wrapped with brown paper and muslin cloth bags, respectively was observed. In short bagging material could be used to protect citrus from fruitfly attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]