Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Gujarat Agricultural University, Junagadh
* Present address: Central Horticultural Experiment Station, Vejalpur 389 340, Godhra.
Treatment of guava fruits with different chemicals and packing them in polythene bags with KMnO4 coated silica gel resulted in delayed degradation of various physico chemical characters of guava fruit. The treatment also reduced the activity of various oxidative and reductive enzymes as well as ethylene production resulting in extension of shelf life in guava fruit up to six days from harvest. This resulted in increased percentage of marketable fruits and also reduced post-harvest losses of the fruit up to some extent.
