Post-harvest quality and spoilage of peach fruits stored in perforated poly bags

An experiment was conducted to find out the effect of different levels of perforation in polyethylene bags on quality and spoilage of peach fruits under cold store conditions. Mature fruits of peach var. Sharbati were packed in transparent HDPE bag (200 gauge; size: 24 cm x 22.7 cm, 1 kg capacity). The bags were perforated on the basis of area at uniform spacing to provide opening of 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% of total for ventilation. The diameter of each opening hole was 1 mm. The fruits were stored under cold store conditions (Temperature 2–4°C and Relative humidity 80–90%) for 40 days. Minimum weight loss (1.35%) was found in unventilated bags followed by 0.5% opening level. Minimum spoilage was found (3.9%) in 1% opening level with maximum spoilage (9.6%) in unventilated bags after 40 days of storage. Total soluble solids content of the fruits increased significantly with increasing the opening level in the bags. However, acidity and ascorbic acid of fruits were not significantly affected due to ventilation. From the studies, it appears that 1% perforation in polyethylene bags (200 gauge) is important to retain quality as well as reduce the spoilage of peach fruits during storage at low temperature.