Post Harvest Wax Coating of Kinnow Fruits to Retain Quality during Storage

Experiments were conducted to find out the effect of wax treatment on Kinnow fruits to enhance shelf life under cold store conditions. The fruits were fine sprayed with wax formulation containing 0.1% thiobendazole fungicide. A set of untreated fruits was also maintained as control. Subsequently the fruits were air dried and packed @ 30 fruits per CFB box (5 ply) in 4 replicates. These were kept for 60 days under cold storage (5 ± 1°C). It was observed that bio-chemical characteristics namely juice content, TSS, acidity and ascorbic acid of the fruits were not affected by wax treatment. Physiological loss in weight was lesser in wax coated fruits (8.8%) as compared to untreated ones. Wax coating reduced spoilage significantly (8%) after 60 days of storage, which indicated that wax coating of Kinnow fruits has been effective to retain the quality up to 50 days.