Effect of hot water treatment on the incidence of lenticel browning and quality of mango fruits

The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effect of hot water treatment on the incidence of lenticel browning (LB) in mango, which is becoming one of the main problems in handling and trade of fresh fruits. Fruits of four selected mango varieties (Indian – ‘Dashehari’, ‘Langra’; Exotic – ‘Sensation’, ‘Eldon’) which were found susceptible to LB, were subjected to hot water treatment (HWT) at different levels (45°, 50° and 55°C for 30 min.). After treatment, the fruits were stored at ambient conditions (35 ± 4ºC and 65 ± 5% RH) for 10 days. At the end of storage period, observations were recorded on various parameters. Our results revealed that fruits of ‘Langra’ exhibited 100% LB, followed by ‘Dashehari’ (52.8%), ‘Sensation’ (35.9%) and ‘Eldon’ (28.3%). All levels of hot water treatment reduced the LB to a greater extent as well as improved fruit quality attributes significantly over untreated fruits. The best results were obtained with HWT at 50°C for 30 min. for reducing LB and fruit decay in different mango varieties and maintaining better quality over untreated fruits. Thus, it can be concluded that hot water treatment at 50°C for 30 min. could be recommended for reducing incidence of LB in mango.