Influence of 1-Methylcyclopropene,polyethylene packaging and storage temperature on postharvest ripening and quality of Mango(Mangifera indica L.).

The Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is a climacteric and highly perishable fruit that requires specialized postharvest hadling to extend its storage life.The study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of 1-Methylcycloprpene (1-MCP), plyethylene packaging (pp) and storage temperature on postharvest ripening and quality of manago at Melkassa Agriculltural Research Center (MARC). Two independent experiments were undertaken in two years period to investigate the influence of 1-MCP and the packaging on three mango cultivars namely'Apple', 'Kent' and TN185'.Green-mature mango fruits were treated with gaseous 1-MCP(100 or 500nLL-1) in closed plastic containers for 18 hours.After 1-MCP treatment, individual fruits were either packaged with perforated plyethylene bags or kept without packaging.They were stored up to 21 days under ambient condition at temperatures of 25.7=+2.6C and 22.8=+ 3.6C; and relative humidifies of 66.1=+11.8% and 58.1+=17.1% for year 1 and year 2, respectively.The third experient was conducted to evaluate the effect of 1-MCP (100nLL-1) and cold storage duration (with temperature of 7.4+=0.3C and relatively humidity of 75.0=+1.0%).All treatments were laid out in factorial arragement in RCBD with three replications.Thye physiological weight loss (PWL), peel color chage, firmness, juice content, flesh to seed ratio (FSR), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), PH, sugar to acid ratio, fruit marketability, microbial decay, chilling injury and sensory attributes were significantly (P0.01) affected by 1-MCP treatment, polyethylene packaging and cold storage throughout the storage periods.The 1-MCP treated and packaged fruits showed better performance in all physiological, chemical and sensory qualities as compared to 1-MCP untreated and non-packaged fruits.Cold storage temperature also affected the physico-chemical qualities of fruits and extended the ripening period as comapred to ambient conditions.Progressive quality chages were observed through time in both ambient and cold storage conditions.The 1-MCP treated and polyethylene packaged fruits showed lower TSS and higher TA values, as compared to untreated controls.Combined use of 1-MCP treatment and polyethylene packaging was better than each treatment alone.Therefore, the result clearly showed that polyethlene packaging and 1-MCP treatment at ambient condition can delay ripening and maintain quality of mango fruits for about six and nine days, respectively; an dcold temperature storage above chilling injury can do so for more than two weeks.