International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No. 19, 154-162
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carpel; 2-clearing has extended to the core line and started to extend into the regions between core line vascular
bundles; 3-clearing has continued between the core line vascular bundles, while tissue surrounding the core line
vascular bundles and in the outer cortex remain stained; 4-clearing has continued into the outer cortex, but not to
the skin. Most core line vascular bundles and associated tissue which remain stained are surrounded by unstained
cortical tissue; 5-clearing has extended to within a few mm of the skin and unstained zones around the core line
vascular bundle, where they exist, started to contract; 6-no staining (no starch)]. Spoilage was considered for
unacceptable fruit losses, whereas some fruits which were damaged partially and were accepted at 50% lower
price an equivalent loss were calculated. Data were analyzed statistically using MSTATC software version 1.3.
Economic analysis of best and existing packing methods were calculated assuming 50% lower price of damaged
fruits in the market.
3 Results and Discussions
3.1 Physiological loss in weight (%)
All the imposed treatments had significant effect on PLW of apple (Table 1; Table 2; Table 3; Table 4; Table 5;
Table 6; Table 7). PLW was high in the fruits which were transported with untrimmed stalk. PLW was lowered
by trimming stalk, keeping fruits in the layers separated by deck plate in the boxes. Irrespective of other
treatments, all the fruits kept in ventilated CFB boxes had slightly higher PLW as compared to unventilated
condition. Wrapping individual fruits with styrofoam was very much effective to reduce weight loss during
transportation and subsequent storage. Interaction effect showed lowest PLW (1.17%) in the fruits which were
individually wrapped with styrofoam and transported without ventilation in CFB box, whereas it was highest
(2.00%) in fruits which were with untrimmed stalk held in CFB boxes without deck plate separation. Reduction
in PLW in unventilated condition was simply due to physical barrier for transpiration. Despite of lower PLW,
anaerobic condition may have harmful effect in the quality of fruits if hold for longer period. Styrofoam wrapped
fruits remained healthy, undamaged and had minimum PLW. Keeping fruits in layers separated with deck plate
minimized vibration damage during transport and thus reduce the PLW. Although PLW was reduced without
ventilation, however, in long run with high temperature this may be harmful to fruits as high temperature in
anaerobic condition favors fermentation in fruits. Higher PLW in untrimmed fruits was due to physical damage to
adjacent fruits resulting higher rate of respiration and transpiration (Shrestha, 1996; Gautam and Bhattarai, 2012).
t al. (2016) reported that moisture loss of a single bruised apple may be increased by as much as
400% compared to that of an intact apple.
Table 1 Interaction effect of different packaging methods used for transportation on PLW (%) of apple fruits after one month storage
(5±1°C and 95% RH) during 2013-2014
Packaging Methods
Fruit Stalk
Without Fruit Stalk
Ventilation
Without Ventilation Ventilation
Without Ventilation
Deck Plate
Styrofoam
1.45
1.25
1.42
1.17
Without Styrofoam
1.62
1.50
1.60
1.40
Without Deck Plate
Styrofoam
1.50
1.35
1.45
1.35
Without Styrofoam
2.00
1.64
1.67
1.55
Grand Mean 1.49
CV (%) 6.14
LSD (0.05) 0.37
Table 2 Interaction effect of different packaging methods used for transportation on total damage (%) of apple fruits after one month
storage ((5±1°C and 95% RH) during 2013-2014
Packaging Methods
Fruit Stalk
Without Fruit Stalk
Ventilation
Without Ventilation Ventilation
Without Ventilation
Deck Plate
Styrofoam
5.50
6.54
3.44
4.70
Without Styrofoam
11.64
11.98
8.35
9.64
Without Deck Plate
Styrofoam
9.64
9.63
8.34
8.60
Without Styrofoam
17.99
19.55
16.15
17.57
Grand Mean 10.58
CV (%) 12.99
LSD (0.05) 1.25
