Effect of pedicel retention and temperature on storage behaviour of Santa Rosa plum

An experiment was conducted to access the effect of pedicel retention and storage of plum fruits of cv. Santa Rosa in Zero Energy Cool Chamber (ZECC). It was observed that there was an increase in the physiological loss in weight and TSS of the fruits during 9 days storage, while, the fruit firmness and titratable acidity declined consistently during the entire storage period. These changes were minimum in the fruits harvested with pedicel and stored under ZECC. The weight loss was reduced to about 1/8^th and the rotting to about 1/6^th by storage of fruits in ZECC. The shelf-life could be enhanced to about 9 days by storing the fruits in ZECC with attached pedicel.