Enhancing Post Harvest Storage Life of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Cv. Rio Grandi Using Calcium Chloride

摘要

The present study was conducted to enhance the post harvest storage life of tomato fruit using CaCl2 treatments. Different concentration of CaCl2such as 1% (T,), 2% (T2) and 3 % (T3) were prepared and the fruit were dipped for 1 to 2 minutes, while (T0) was left without calcium chloride treatment as control so as to test the effect of post harvest treatments to prolong shelf life. The fruit were packed in polyethylene (0.6 mm) and store at ambient temperature for total period of 30 days. Physio-chemical analysis of fruit was made in ten days interval. Statistical analysis showed that storage intervals and treatments have significant (P<0.05) effects on the quality parameters of the tomato fruits during storage. 2 % calcium chloride packed in ventilated 0.6 mm polyethylene cover found highly effective in controlling storage losses as well as in maintaining the quality of produce during storage. The finding has significant contribution to reduce economic losses of perishable fruits and evidence to researchers.