Effect of maturity stages on the post harvest shelf life and quality of mandarin orange.

Bhusal, Y. R., D. M. Gautam, D. D. Dhakal and P. P. Subedi. 2007. IAAS Research Advances Vol. 1. Institute of Agriculture and Animal Sciences, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal. pp. 37-40.

Keywords: Post harvest shelf life, total soluble solids, total titratable acids

Mandarin orange is one of the important fruits of Nepal. Being loose skinned it experienced higher post harvest losses. The experiment was carried out to find out the appropriate maturity stage of orange for harvesting to prolong post harvest shelf life. The fruits were harvested at four different maturity stages: 0-25% yellow. 26-50% yellow, 51-75% yellow and more than 75% yellow. The experiment was set in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) inside cellar store with five replications. Observations were made on weight loss. juice volume, rotting percent, TSS, TA and TSS/TA ratio at fortnightly interval and organoleptic test (a hedonic scale of 1-5) was done at the end of storage. The result showed that the fruits at 26-50% yellow immature stage had minimum weight loss, rotting percent and less reduction in juice volume during storage of 105 days. As the storage period prolonged a significant change in TSS, TA and TSS/TA ratio was noticed. At the end of storage, 26-50% yellow matured showed higher performance as compared to others.