Agricultural Reviews

Immature green cucumber cv. Padmini fruits were individually shrink wrapped with Cryovac D955 (60 gauge) film and stored at 12±1°C temperature, 90-95% relative humidity as well as under ambient room conditions, i.e., 29-33°C temperature and 65-70% relative humidity. At 12±1°C temperature and 90-95% relative humidity, the individual shrink-wrapped cucumber recorded minimum physiological loss in weight (0.66%) as compared to unwrapped fruits (11.11%) at the end of refrigerated storage of 15 days. The softening (loss of firmness) was observed at maximum (1304.6-876.6 g force) in unwrapped cucumbers, whereas, in shrink wrapping, minimum loss in firmness (1304.6-1065.3 g force) was observed after 12 days of storage at 12±1°C temperature and 90- 95% relative humidity. However, greater loss of weight and firmness made the control cucumbers unmarketable after 9 days of storage. There was no decaying in shrink wrapped and unwrapped cucumbers up to 15 days of storage at 12±1°C temperature and 90-95% relative humidity. After 15 days storage of shrink-wrapped cucumbers at 12±1°C temperature and 90-95% relative humidity, there was loss of green colour and development of yellowness and decay. The sensory attributes score was noted maximum in shrink wrapped cucumbers as compared to unwrapped cucumbers at end of the both storage conditions. Thus, it can be concluded that individually shrink-wrapped cucumber can be stored well up to 15 days at 12±1°C temperature and 90-95% relative humidity and for 5 days under ambient room conditions (29-33°C temperature and 65-70% relative humidity) with maximum retention of green colour, no spoilage, minimum weight and firmness loss and very good sensory quality attributes, whereas, unwrapped fruits can be stored well up to 9 days at 12±1°C temperature and 90-95% relative humidity and for only 2 days under ambient room conditions with maximum retention of physico-chemical quality attributes.