Influence of storage environment, surface coating, and individual shrink wrapping on quality assurance of guava (Psidium guajava) fruits.

Guava (Psidium guajava) fruits of cv. L-49 with individual shrink wrapping using 9 micro LLDPE film could be successfully stored up to 12 days at ambient and 18 days in evaporative cool chamber with negligible loss in vitamin C content. The untreated fruits lose 25-30% of ascorbic acid within 1 week after harvest. Delay in senescence and metabolic activities as supported by less changes in soluble solids, sugars, acidity, respiration, and ethylene evaluation rate was also observed in individual shrink wrapped fruits in cool chamber. The spoilage of fruits by Fusarium rots was significantly less in cool chamber in individually shrink wrapped fruits followed by Sta-fresh treatment. Sta-fresh was more effective in cool chamber than ambient. Individually stored wrapped fruits scored a better value of sensory score than Sta-fresh under both the storage condition.