Study on the Post Harvest Shelf-Life of Minimally Processed Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) Bulbs

摘要

The influence of pre-treatment and different packaging to enhance the postharvest shelf-life of minimally processed jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus L.) bulbs under different storage conditions was investigated. The packages studied include polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) of 300 gauge each, polystyrene (PS) packages; and the storage include refrigeration (3-5 deg C) and deep-freeze (-12 deg C) temperatures. Minimally processed jackfruit bulbs were given a post-cutting dip pre-treatment with citric acid and CaCl_2, prior to packaging. Samples devoid of any preservative based pre-treatment but packaged in similar packages were used as experimental control. Dip pre-treatment with citric acid along with PE packaging and storage under deep-freeze temperature were found to be effective in restricting physiological losses in weight and ascorbic acid and minimizing deteriorative changes in sensory attributes, pH, titratable acidity and total soluble solids. Citric acid pre-treatment along withPP packages were found to be superior to PE and PS in limiting microbial counts in the samples. There was significant (p<0.05) difference in quality between pre-treated and control samples. Based on the sensory attributes and microbiological contamination, the shelf-life of pre-treated samples was 10 to 12 days under refrigeration storage and 18 to 20 days under deep-freeze storage.