Effect of post-harvest treatments on physico-chemical changes during ripening of papaya cv. red lady

Abstract

Papaya fruits Cv. Red Lady treated with ethylene of different concentrations i.e. 60, 80, 100 and 120 ppm for five minutes at different temperature conditions viz., 16, 20, 24 and 28 ºC and 95% RH ripened in ripening chamber and untreated fruits kept at ambient temperature (30-35 ºC). Then the papaya fruits were analyzed for physico-chemical changes and sensory qualities. It was found that papaya fruits exposed to ethylene gas in the ripening chamber triggered the ripening process and showed that the increasing trends in L*, a*, b* values of colour, TSS (°Brix), Weight loss (%), reducing sugars (%) and decreasing trends in firmness (N), Titratable acidity (TA) during ripening in all the treatment combinations during advancement of ripening period from second day to eighth day. It was observed that papaya fruits Cv. Red Lady ripened by ethylene of 100 ppm for 5 minutes at 24 ºC, 95% RH showed better results in respect of a high overall acceptability score of 8.63.