International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 38-43 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 38 Research Report Open Access Effect of Different Postharvest Treatments on Quality and Shelf Life of Mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) in Gokuleshwor, Baitadi Kiran Prasad Upadhayaya1 , Arati Chapai 2 , Binay Maharjan1, Raju Ranabhat 1, Rajesh Pant 1, Sanjeet Basnet 1 1 Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Tribhuwan University, Kirtipur, P.O. Box 143, Nepal 2 Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, 44209, Nepal Corresponding authors: wordsforkiran@gmail.com; chapaiarati100@gmail.com International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.1 doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0005 Received: 21 Feb., 2024 Accepted: 18 Mar., 2024 Published: 03 Apr., 2024 Copyright © 2024Upadhayaya et al., This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Upadhayaya K.P., Chapai A., Maharjan B., Ranabhat R., Pant R., and Basnet S., 2024, Effect of different postharvest treatments on quality and shelf life of mandarin (Citrus reticulataBlanco) in Gokuleshwor, Baitadi, International Journal of Horticulture, 14(1): 38-43 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0005) Abstract The experiment was carried out from December 2018 to January 2019 with the objective of assessing the effect of different postharvest treatments on the quality and shelf life of mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco). The design of the experiment was a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with five treatments (T1= Control, T2= Calcium chloride 1%, T3= Cinnamomum oil 2%, T4= Bavistin 0.1% and T5= Salt water 1%) and four replications. T3 was found to be the most effective in reducing the physiological loss in weight (18.10%) in comparison with T5 (23.28%) and T1 (22.79%), whereas T4 proved to have minimum decay loss (25%) up to four weeks of storage. The fruits treated with T2 retained maximum firmness (3.96 kg/cm2). The maximum total soluble solid (12.36˚ Brix) was recorded in T5 and the maximum Titrable Acidity was recorded in T3. The present findings indicate that mandarin can be stored for up to four weeks when treated with Cinnamomum as well as with Bavistin in a condition with a temperature of 13 °C-18 °C and a relative humidity of 75%-90%. Keywords Mandarin; Fruit quality; Postharvest treatments; Shelf life; Postharvest loss in weight Introduction The Mandarin, also known as Mandarine (Citrus reticulata), one of the most vital and commercially valuable fruit crops in Nepal, is a small citrus tree that produces fruits resembling oranges. The Mandarin tree belongs to the Rutaceae family. Mandarins thrive in tropical and subtropical regions but are delicate and vulnerable to cold temperatures. World production of mandarin oranges was 33.4 million tons, led by China with 54% of the global total. Producing more than one million tons each in 2017 were Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Brazil, and Egypt (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/). Top Producer of Mandarin in world is China. Top Exporter is Spain and Top Importer is Russia. Mandarin are thought to have evolved in a region including Vietnam, South China, and Japan. The mandarin fruit plays a significant role in the national economy of Nepal, contributing to 0.97% of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and 0.33% of the GDP (PMD, 2012). Nepal also produces a huge amount of mandarin in its hilly areas from east to west comprising 56 districts and occupies 20th position in the world’s mandarin production (Rokaya et al., 2016). Mandarin cultivation occupies approximately 26,282 hectares of land in Nepal, with 16,248 hectares designated as productive. The country's total production amounts to about 146,690 metric tons, with an average productivity of 9.0 metric tons per hectare (https://moald.gov.np/). Mandarin are non-climacteric and perishable, and are prone to quality loss during storage. In Nepal, around 15% to 20% of citrus fruit is lost during the postharvest period (Bhattarai et al., 2013). In Baitadi, mandarin production covers about 16 hectares, of which 13 hectares are productive. The total production is approximately 120 metric tons, with an average productivity of 9.2 metric tons per hectare (https://moald.gov.np/). The large volume of the losses starts right from harvesting and loss increases many folds during the postharvest steps. The process of growing, harvesting, and post-harvesting oranges leads to significant damages, resulting in losses for farmers, impacting the country's economy, and decreasing food availability (Kabas, 2010).
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