Development of Low Cost Plastic Ripening Chamber for Ripening of Mango

The ripening chamber is commercially used for ripening of mango where ethylene gas is used and temperature, relative humidity and other parameters are maintained during ripening process. The cost of ripening chamber and operating cost are the major limiting factors for its adoption by small traders or farmers. In this study, a low cost plastic ripening chamber was developed where ripening mixture of water (1.2 litre), ethrel (0.93 ml) and sodium hydroxide (0.5 g) was used for release of ethylene gas. The unripe mature mangoes (Alphonso) in plastic crates were kept inside the air tight ripening chamber for 24 h for enhancing ripening process. The firmness (N), TSS (oBrix) and peel colour were found to be 1.31, 18, 2 and 0.58, 21 and 4 respectively, for untreated and treated mango on fifth day. The sensory study showed that mangoes ripened with ethylene gas were superior to untreated ones. The operating cost for mango ripening was 1.96 paise per kilogram.