Influence of Post-harvest Application of Natural Coatings on Extending the Shelf Life of Guava (Psidium guajava) cv. Lucknow 49

The research experiment aims to investigate the potential of different eco-friendly, plant-based and natural coatings, namely banana peel extract, pomegranate peel extract, jackfruit seed extract, aloe vera gel extract and konjac powder at 5% concentration levels, on the physicochemical qualities of the guava variety Lucknow 49.

The research experiment was conducted during 2025-2026 at the Fruit Science Laboratory, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, Baburayanpettai, Tamil Nadu. The study was laid out in a completely randomized design (CRD) and different coating treatments were applied to evaluate their effects on the physicochemical properties and shelf life of guava under ambient storage conditions. Multivariate analyses, principal component analysis (PCA), were performed using R software version 4.5.2 to assess the interrelationships among the physicochemical attributes of guava during storage.

The results revealed that the 5% concentration of pomegranate peel extract (T₂) has the potential to achieve the longest shelf life (8.67 days) by the ninth day of storage period; this treatment retains the higher fruit firmness (11.64 kg/cm²), maximum amount of ascorbic acid (173.45 mg/100 g), while exhibit the low physiological loss in weight (13.55%) and also enhance the total soluble solids (TSS), total sugars in the treated fruits, which proves an effective semi-permeable membrane on the fruit surface, reducing physiological loss in weight (PLW) and reduce the metabolic rate of enzymatic processes. The experiment findings are the best potential of these plant-based extracts as an alternative source of food preservatives.