International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol.14, No.1, 38-43 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 42 2.5 Titrable acidity (TA) The information highlights the significant impact of various treatment levels on the titratable acidity (TA) of mandarin fruits at the end of storage (Table 4). TA decreased notably as the storage period progressed, a trend likely attributed to the utilization of acids in the tricarboxylic acid cycle during respiration. Table 4 Effect of postharvest treatments on TA TREATMENT TAD1 TAD5 TAD10 TAD15 TAD20 Control 0.93a 0.6a 1.16a 0.92a 0.58a Calcium chloride 1.18a 0.62a 1.03a 0.84a 0.68a Cinnamomum oil 1.05a 0.61a 1.12a 0.84a 0.82a Bavistin 1.01a 0.53a 0.98a 0.64a 0.64a Salt solution 1.08a 0.67a 1.19a 0.75a 0.70a CV 22.86 19.72 21.09 29.96 28.40 F-VALUE (TREATMENT) 0.57 0.66 0.56 0.84 0.95 LSD 0.37 0.18 0.35 0.37 0.30 MEAN 1.05 0.60 1.09 0.80 0.68 SE 0.04 0.02 0.03 0.05 0.04 Note: Means with the same letter within a column do not differ significantly at p= 0.05, CV = Coefficient of variation, LSD = Least Significant Difference, and SE = Standard Error At the end of storage, the highest TA was observed in fruits treated with Cinnamomum oil, contrasting with the control group. This suggests that Cinnamomum oil treatment may have helped maintain higher acidity levels in the fruits compared to the untreated ones. Cinnamomum oil-treated fruits retained higher acidity possibly because they used acids less during storage, potentially due to slower respiration. Conversely, untreated fruits likely had lower acidity because they utilized acids faster in the respiration process during storage (Rokaya et al., 2017). The findings are consistent with the results reported by Sonkar et al. (2009) in kinnow mandarin and Deka et al. (2006) in Khasi mandarin. 3 Conclusion and Recommendations From these results, it can be concluded that the application of diverse chemicals can significantly minimize postharvest losses in mandarin fruits. Among these chemicals, Cinnamomum oil effectively decreased both weight loss and decay loss, contributing to an overall improvement in fruit quality and shelf life. The fruits treated with CaCl2 displayed the highest firmness, followed by those treated with Cinnamomum oil. Minimum TSS was recorded in the fruits treated with Bavistin (11.09˚ Brix) and the maximum TA was recorded in the fruits treated with Cinnamomum oil (0.82). Bavistin and Cinnamomum oil-treated fruits can be preserved for up to four weeks under controlled conditions: temperatures ranging from 13 °C to 18 °C and relative humidity maintained between 75% and 90%. Based on the findings, it is advisable for farmers to utilize a variety of chemicals and botanicals such as cinnamomum oil, Bavistin, and calcium chloride to enhance the quality and prolong the shelf life of mandarin fruits. While the residue effects were not examined in this study, it is recommended to prioritize the use of botanicals over chemicals due to the potential residue issues associated with chemical treatments, which could lead to adverse side effects. Authors’ contributions KPU: Contribution to design and implementation of the research, interpretation of the results, writing the manuscript. AC: analysis of data, interpretation of the results, writing the manuscript. BM, RR, RP, SB: Sample preparation, data collection, perform the experiments and manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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