Improvement in keeping quality of pomegranate fruits during storage

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) is an important fruit crop of arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Due to its exquisite fruit quality, enriched nutritional values and enormous medicinal usage, it has great demand in domestic and export market. Among the different varieties of pomegranate grown in India, Bhagwa has become the predominant commercial cultivar. The fruits of Bhagwa have bold red arils (edible portion), soft seeds, thick rind which is dark red with attractive shininess. However, loss of surface moisture leads to shrinkage and fading of gloss (brightness) which makes the fruits to become unattractive and fetch poor price apart from reducing its keeping quality. Lac formulations developed at ICAR-IINRG, Namkum, Ranchi are natural edible coatings that enhance the shelf life/keeping quality of fruits by acting as barrier for moisture exchange from fruit surface. With the objective of improving the keeping quality, fruits of pomegranate cv. Bhagwa were dipped in lac formulations. The outcome of the study revealed that lac formulation SH 2 was found to be superior compared to others. Lac formulation SH 2 when applied at 100% concentration was found most effective in improving the keeping quality of pomegranate fruits by 6.0 days under ambient conditions over the untreated control (16.7 days) by reducing the physiological loss in weight, enhancing the brightness (gloss), and increasing the brix acid ratio of the fruits.