1Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar, J & K, India
2Ch. Devi Lal University, Sirsa. Haryana, India
Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Abohar, Punjab, India
*E-mail: deshbsingh@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 31 March, 2018.
An experiment was conducted to observe the effect of different concentrations of Aloe vera gel coatings on quality and shelf life of plum stored at room temperature and refrigerated/cold store. Under both the storage conditions uncoated fruits showed significant increase in weight loss, reduction in colour stability, firmness and quality compositions/standards during the storage (16 days at room temperature and 36 days at low temperature; Plums treated with Aloe vera gel 1: 2 ratio significantly reduced weight loss (4.2±0.20%) compared to control (8.7 ±1.8%) when stored at room temperature and 3.9 ± 0.2% compared to 7.3 ± 0.2% in control when stored at low temperature, and also maintained colour, firmness and quality characteristics of fruits. Colour of fruits was also maintained by edible coatings. Aloe vera gel coatings were also found effective to stabilize cell membrane and cell structure. The sensory evaluation for aroma, texture, firmness further confirmed the findings.
plum, edible coating, Aloe vera gel, storage, quality
