Prospective and Retrospective Approaches to Postharvest Quality Management of Fresh Guava (Psidium guajava L.) Fruit in the Supply Chain

摘要

Increasing consumer concerns about fruit flavour, nutrition, safety, and sustainability issues bring to liglit critical challenges that guava industry will encounter in the near future. Guava fruit has high perishability, susceptibility to chilling injury (CI) and diseases, and quarantine restrictions in world frade; these constraints are of similar nature as for other tropical fiuits. This review briefly describes the commercial importance, postharvest constraints, harvest maturity, and postharvestphysiology of guava fixiit. The main focus is to review the existing and prospective postharvest technologies that can potentially increase the postharvest life with minimal loss in fruit quality and to meet the consumer expectations and the regulatory requirements imposed by various countries. The possible application of controlled/modified atmospheres (CA/MA) in conjunction with low temperature for storage and transportation of guava is reviewed. Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) can be very helpfiil for storage and long distance transportation of this fiuit, but risks associated with the use of this technology are also underlined. The possibility of use of edible coatings to modify internal atmosphere of guava fruit has also been reported to be partially successfiil. The integration of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) into postharvest handling system may be beneficial for ethylene management in guava fruit to extend shelf-life, reduce decay and CI symptoms. Irradiation is an approved phytosanitary treatment to provide quarantine security against many regulatory insect-pests of guava, and is also beneficial to extend marketability by delaying fiiiit ripening and reducing decay. A wide range of technologies hold promise in extending the postharvest life, retaining the quality in supply chain, and enhancing the market potential of guava fhiit. In future, the guava industry will need to position itself to proactively address fiiture challenges through a system approach and popularize the fruit to expand its market potential.