PROLONGING THE SHELF LIFE AND MAINTAINING FRUIT QUALITY OF NAOMI MANGO CULTIVAR.

Mango fruits being climacteric have a short shelf life; and post-harvest dipping is considered as one of the most popular techniques to prolong its shelf life dipping based on starch, olive oil, beeswax and sodium benzoate have been evaluated with reference to the shelf life and quality of mango Naomi cultivar fruit harvested at full stage of maturity. The dipped and undipped (control) fruits were stored on the lab's tables in the room conditions (25±5 <C and 65-70% R.H.), samples of each treatment were randomly taken every 4 days to evaluate after harvest dipping treatments effect during shelf life of fruits. Results indicated that every dipping treatment has a significant impact on the quality and shelf life of the fruit. The beeswax and olive oil treated mango fruits had the longest shelf life with good quality, while the shelf life of untreated (control) fruit was the shortest. The total soluble solids and sugar contents were also high in starch-treated fruit. The overall data conclude that beeswax was the best post-harvest dipping material, which might be due to the fact that beeswax is an antioxidant and antimicrobial as well as hydrophobic in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]