Effect of post harvest treatments on physico-chemical characteristics and shelf life of litchi (Litchi chinensis sonn.) cv Dehradun

Investigations on the effect of post harvest treatments on the quality characteristics and shelflife of litchi fruits (Litchi chinensis Sonn) Dehradun were carried out in the Division of Post Harvest Technology, SKUAST-J. It was found that different post harvest treatments had a great influence in retaining the physico-chemical constituents thus reducing the wastage. Storage studies revealed that over a period of 10 days at (32 ± 3°e), a continuous and significant decline in physiological loss in weight from 1.33% to 5.08%, acidity (0.41% to 0.22%) and ascorbic acid (42.64 to 25. 71mg/100ml) was recorded, whereas, a gradual increase in TSS from 20.1° Brix to 26.64°Brix (upto 6 days) and then decrease to 17.06° Brix (upto 10 days). Thus it can be inferred from the study that calcium extends the shelf-life of fruit by maintaining firmness, minimizing the rate of respiration, disintegration of tissues and disease incidence while as sulphurmaintains the colour of the fruit.