Comparative effect of different individual wrappings on shelf life of guava (Psidium guajava)

Being climacteric fruit the organoleptic quality of Guava deteriorates due to continuously occurring biochemical changes during the storage leading to heavy post harvest losses. The present research work was planned to depreciate the losses by assessing the effect of different individual packagings on the shelf life of the fruit. The individual wrapping of fruits were carried out in LDPE films by cling, shrink, vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and stored at room temperature (37 °C). Individual wrapping delayed the ripening process by slowing down the metabolic activities and reducing the magnitude of changes in physicochemical parameters. In control fruits significant compositional changes along with the total phenol content and ascorbic acid were observed with higher decay loss. However, wrapping of fruits maintained the natural freshness and helped in retaining the marketability of the fruits. Vacuum packing and MAP showed minimum PLW (3.5%), decay loss and ripening during storage. Cling wrapping and shrink wrapping were the best treatments that enhanced the shelf life of fruits by 4 days at room temperature.