EFFECT OF SOURCES OF NUTRIENTS AND PACKAGING MATERIALS ON SHELF LIFE OF BOTTLE GOURD FRUITS (LAGENARIA SICERARIA (MOL.) STANDL.) AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURE

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study change in the quality of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standl.), fruits stored at ambient room temperature under different packaging materials at Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, Varanasi during summer season of 2008 and 2009. The green and tender fruits of bottle gourd variety cv. Kashi Ganga of the same anthesis date was selected for study and packaged in different types of packaging materials like low density polyethylene (LDPE, 40 x 30 cm) pouches, cardboard boxes (45 x 30 x 20 cm), jute bags (45 x 30 cm), and news paper and kept at ambient room temperature (25 ± 2oC, 72.09-84.0% RH). It was observed, that all the packaging materials were significantly effective for improving the quality parameters and shelf life of bottle gourd as compared to unpacked bottle gourd fruits. Physiological loss in weight in stored bottle gourd fruits was significantly low (18.12%) in LDPE pouches as compared to jute bags (21.25%) after 12 days of storage. Similarly the spoilage percentage was also significantly less in jute bags and LDPE pouches as compared to other packaging materials. The total soluble solids (TSS) content increased with increasing the storage period of fruit in all packaging materials whereas, the titratable acidity and ascorbic acid contents were decreased. The maximum (5.72%) TSS was recorded under with T12 (NPK 60 : 30 : 30 kg/ha + vermicompost @ 5 t/ha + micronutrients mixtures) with news paper packaging after 12 days of storage. The minimum (0.13% as citric acid) acidity was recorded in T13 (NPK 60: 30:30 kg/ha+ vermicompost @ 5 t/ha+ micronutrients mixture) after 12 days of storage and maximum (7.16 mg/100g) vitamin c was noted in T7 (NPK 60: 30:30 kg/ha + Poultry manure @ 5 t/ha) during 3 days of storage in LDPE pouches.