EXOGENOUS APPLICATION OF CALCIUM CHLORIDE INFLUENCES THE PHYSICO-CHEMICAL CHANGES IN SUGAR APPLES (ANNONA SQUAMOSA L.) FRUITS IN COLD STORAGE.

The physicochemical characteristics and shelf life of sugar apple fruits treated with control and calcium chloride (3, 6, 9%) for 5 minutes were studied. All tested treatments indicated a significant delay in the change of weight loss, firmness, respiration rate, titrable acidity, total soluble solids, colour (L*, a*, b*), and organoleptic evaluation in sugar apple fruits of experimental set than that of the control set. Moreover, the physicochemical analysis of sugar apple fruits of experimental set revealed that it also contain higher amount of titratable acidity and firmness. The significant impact of treatment is found on the least physiological loss of weight in the order of fruits treated with CaCl2 6%. Hence, it could be concluded that post harvest chemical treatment with 6% of CaCl2 has the potential to maintain the firmness, prolong the storage life upto 12 days and preserve in cold storage of 13±1ºC of valuable attributes of post harvest sugar apple, presumably because of its effect on inhibition of ripening and senescence processes.