Final SPH -JHS Coverpage 17-1 Jan 2022 single J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 17(1) : 184-189, 2022 This is an open access article d istributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer cial-ShareAl ike 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, d istribution, and reproduction in any med ium, provide d the original author and source are credited. Original Research Paper INTRODUCTION Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), one of the most favorite table fruits is native to Persia. The crop is very hardy and thus thrives well under arid and semi- arid climatic conditions. During the last two decades, the area under pomegranate cultivation is increasing substantially and many growers have taken up it as commercial farming due to the fact that the fruit satisfies the nutritional and medicinal needs of the consumer as the fruits have potent anti-mutagenic, anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory properties and ability to reduce liver injury (Holland et al., 2009). In spite of several benefits, the fruit consumption is not to the expected consumption and the availability of pomegr anate fruit in the ma rket ar e largely restricted to the harvesting season due to a high dema nd a nd la ck of a ppr opr ia te post-ha r vest technology to extend the storage life and maintain fruit quality (Erkan and Kader, 2011). Pomegranate being a non-climacteric fruit can be stored for few days under ambient conditions, but has potentiality to be stored for longer duration. But, long-term storage of pomegranate fruit has often been limited by weight loss, decay development, husk scald, loss of aril quality and taste (Porat et al., 2016). However, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) has been found to be successful in reducing water loss, visible shriveling symptoms, husk scald a nd deca y of pomegranate fruit during cold storage, but improper use of MAP will have negative impact (Artés et al., 2000; Selcuk and Erkan, 2015). MAP bags have been widely used for pomegranate storage and shipping in Effect of modified atmosphere package on physico-chemical properties of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) fruits Sahel N.A.1, Krishna H.C.2*, Bhuvaneswari S.3, Mushrif S.K.4, Reddy A.5 and Foshanji A.S.1 1Department of Food Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Herat University, Herat, Afghanistan. 2Department of Postharvest Technology, College of Horticulture, UHS Campus, Bengaluru, India. 3Department of Postharvest Technology and Agri. Engineering, IIHR, Bengaluru, India 4Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, UHSB, Kolar, India 5Department of Plant Pathology, College of Horticulture, UHS Campus, Bengaluru, India *Corresponding author E-mail : krishnahc@gmail.com ABSTRACT Pomegranate is an important table and processed fruit owing to its nutritional quality. Extending the fruit life of the plant is very much limited owing to its metabolic activities viz., respiration, transpiration and microbial infection. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different packaging materials on physico-chemical properties of pomegranate fruits during storage. Fruits were harvested with stalk and washed with sodium hypochlorite, air dried and graded. Fruits were stored under modified atmospheric packaging conditions using different packaging materials viz., polyethylene bag, polypropylene bag, Xtend® bag and silver nano bag Hima Fresh®. Fruits without package served as controls. Fruits were stored at low temperature 7±2 °C and 90±5 % RH. MAP treated fruits had higher quality parameters across all packaging treatments. PLW and respiration rate increased while, moisture content, colour, texture and acidity decreased with prolonged storage, but the rate of decrease was highest in unpacked fruits. MAP maintained the quality of pomegranate fruits upto 100 days compared to unpackaged fruits (40 days). Shelf life of stored fruit at ambient condition was 4 to 5 days. Fruit decay was 12 % in polyethylene whereas it was 6 % in Xtend® bag at the end of 100 day of storage. Keywords: Decay percentage, MAP, pomegranate, shelf life and storage life 185 Effect of modified atmosphere package on pomegranate fruits J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 17(1) : 184-189, 2022 pomegranate exporting countries. MAP is most widely used technology to alter the gas composition in package in passive approach. This is achieved by the interaction between the respiration rate of the produce and the transfer of gases through the packaging material (Mahajan et al., 2007). In MAP, respiration rate is reduced by increasing CO2 and decreasing O2 concentration. MAP for pomegranates has been shown to reduce weight loss, shrinkage, scald development, decay, delay senescence and maintain post-harvest fruit quality of pomegranates (Selcuk and Erkan, 2014). The present study aims at extending the storage life of pomegranate fruits by application of modified atmosphere and humidity using different packaging materials. MATERIAL AND METHODS The pomegranate fruits cv. Bhagwa were hand- harvested at ripe stage with 0.5 cm stalk intact and were graded based on the uniformity. Fruits were washed in 150 ppm sodium hypochlorite. Later, the fruits were washed in running tap water and air dried to remove surface water. Fifteen to twenty uniform fruits weighing 4-5 kg were packed in modified atmosphere package bags viz., polyethylene bag (T1), polypropylene bag (T2), Xtend ® bag (T3) and silver nano bag Hima Fresh® (T4) along with control unpack (T5) and kept in corrugated fiberboard boxes as per treatment and stored at low temperature 7±2° C and 90 ± 5 % relative humidity (Fig.1). Experiment was carried out using completely randomized design with five treatments and five replications. Data were recorded till the termination of experiment through numbering for all non-destructive parameters. The weight loss was recorded by using 10 mg precision electronic weighing balance (Make: Sartorius GmbH, Gottingen, Germany, Model: GE812). The PLW was calculated using standard formula and expressed as per cent. Fruit colour was measured using a n instr ument por ta ble color imeter spectrophotometer (Lovibond LC 100, Model RM200, The Tintometer Ltd, Salisbury, UK). Fruit firmness evalua tion wa s ca r r ied out by pier cing 5 mm cylindrical probe at a speed of 2 mm/s with automatic return. The downward penetration at 5 mm is pre- test speed and post-test speed were1 and 10 mm/s, respectively using texture analyzer (Model TA HD plus; Make Stable Microsystems, UK) equipped with a 50 kg load cell. Finally, the data were analyzed statistically. The respiration rate was measured by piercing the probe of an auto oxygen/ carbon di-oxide analyzer (Make: Quantek, Model: 902D Dual track) and was calculated using the following formula. Respiration rate (mg CO2 kg -1 h-1) = % CO2 x Container volume (ml) x 60 Fruit weight (kg) x Enclosing time (min) x 100 The titratable acidity of pomegranate fruits sample was determined by visual titration method following the protocol (Ranganna, 1986). The fruit decay incidence was visually assessed by counting the total number of rotten fruits. For both external and internal decay, percentage of discarded fruits was calculated using the following formula. Decay incidence (%) = Number of discarded fruits at each sampling date x 100Total number of fruits in treatment The number of days in which the fruits were in acceptable condition was taken as the storage life or keeping quality of fruits. The fruits were removed from Fig. 1. Effect of MAP bag showing MA/MH condition during storage of pomegranate fruits 186 Sahel et al bags and kept in ambient condition at 25±5° C to stimulate the commercial handling operations and to determine the shelf life. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The PLW significantly increased with prolonged storage in all the treatments (Fig. 2). However, PLW was maximum in the control fruits as there was 11.32 per cent loss in weight at 40 days of storing while, the PLW was 0.87 and 3.12 % in the fruits packed in silver nano ba g Hima Fresh® a nd Xtend® bag, respectively even after 100 days of storage. It can be assumed that the packaging materials act as barriers to moisture loss by way of establishing a micro- environment with high relative humidity similar to fruit moisture content 80-85 per cent causing a very low vapour pressure difference between fruits and external environment. All these factors help in slowing down the respiration and transpiration rates. The present results are in confirmation with the previous findings of Nanda et al. (2001) and Porat et al. (2016). T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage Fig. 2. Effect of modified atmosphere package on physiological loss in weight (%) of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) Pomegranate fruits at the final stage of senescence become less intense and this characteristic visual change seems to be associated with a gradual decrease in the parameters: L*, a* and b* (Fig. 3a, 3b and 3c). Decrease in L*, a* and b* values was found to be more prominent in control unpacked fruits indicating the change in colour of pomegranate fruits from red to br own colour. Minimum colour cha nge was observed in fruits packed in silver nano bag while, highest color change was obser ved in contr ol. Minimum colour change in MAP fruits might be attributed to minimum moisture loss and lesser rate T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage Fig. 3b. Effect of modified atmosphere package on colour value (a*) of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage Fig. 3a. Effect of modified atmosphere package on colour value (L*) of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage Fig. 3c. Effect of modified atmosphere package on colour value (b*) of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) of respiration delaying senescence in pomegranate fruits. Naik et al. (2017) also reported that the Hunter color (L*, a* and b*) values of pomegranate fruits gradually decreased with each successive storage period. From the data (Fig.4), it was observed that the respiration rate of pomegranate fruits packed in modified atmosphere packaging materials decreased initially after harvest but increased gradually with J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 17(1) : 184-189, 2022 187 prolonged storage. Significant difference was recorded with respect to respiration rate in the control fruits at 20 and 40 days after storage while, no difference was noticed at 60, 80, and 100 days among MAP packed fruits. The increase in respiration rate of fruits during storage could be an indication of increase in stress including presence of physiological disorders and metabolic reactions. Low respiration in MAP bag fruits may be due to lower moisture loss, lower stress and low availability of O2 inside the package and maximum accumulation of CO2 in the bags. The above ûndings agree with Meighani et al. (2014) and Mphahlele et al. (2016). The results on changes in headspace oxygen and carbon di-oxide concentration as influenced by modified atmosphere packing of pomegranate fruits during storage are presented in Fig. 5. As the storage period progressed, the oxygen concentration was significantly decreased and carbon dioxide increased due to respiration. The highest oxygen (13.92 %) and lowest carbon dioxide (4.04 %) concentration was recorded in Xtend® bag while, the lowest oxygen (5.18 %) and highest carbon dioxide (7.68 %) were recorded in silver nano bag at 100 days after storage compared to other treatments. This might be due to the lower permeability to gases by the silver nano bag compared to Xtend® bag which had micro-perforation resulting in optimum water vapor and gas transmission rate. Our results agree with Mphahlele et al. (2016) and Mshraky et al. (2017). T he firmness of pomegr ana te fr uits decrea sed significantly with prolonged storage period (Fig. 6). However, the pomegranate fruits which were packed by silver nano bag recorded highest firmness (6.24 kg cm-1) on day 40 than other treatments while, control recorded lower firmness (5.04 kg cm-1) on the same day of storage. With prolonged storage, the firmness of the fruit was decreased. Silver nano bag maintained higher firmness (5.81 cm-1) while, lower firmness (5.62 kg cm-1) was observed in Xtend® bag after 100 days of stora ge. This could be attr ibuted to slow degradational changes during initial period and also less moisture loss in MAP fruits maintaining better firmness compared to control. These results agree with Mshraky et al. (2016) and Kumar et al. (2013). T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage; Initial respiration rate: 18.17 mg CO2 kg -1 h-1 Fig. 4. Effect of modified atmosphere package on respiration rate (mg CO2 kg -1 h-1) of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage Fig. 5. Effect of modified atmosphere package on gas composition inside MAP bags of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage; Initial texture: 6.51 kg cm-1 Fig. 6. Effect of modified atmosphere package on texture (kg cm-1) of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) Data pertaining to the effect of different treatments on titratable acidity are presented in Fig. 7. Significant difference was recorded among treatments at 40 days after storage. The least (0.78 %) acidity was recorded in unpacked control fruits whereas maximum (0.93 %) acidity was recorded in silver nano bag. Thereafter, no difference was observed till 100 days indicating constant titratable acidity in MAP pomegranate fruits which might be due to reduction in metabolic Effect of modified atmosphere package on pomegranate fruits J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 17(1) : 184-189, 2022 188 changes of organic acid into carbon dioxide and water as reported by Arendse et al. (2014) Nanda et al. (2001). The decay percentage was significantly increased with extended storage as depicted in the Fig. 8. There was no microbial decay of fruits at 20 days after storage irrespective of treatments. The highest decay (7.00 %) was noticed in unpacked fruits while there was no decay in silver nano bag and Xtend® bag fruits at 40 days of storage. Thereafter, control fruits were terminated. Later, minimum decay of 1, 2 and 6 per cent was recorded in fruits packed in Xtend® bag at 60, 80and 100 days after storage, respectively whereas maximum per cent decay of 7, 10 and 12 was observed in fruits packed in polyethylene bag a t 60, 80a nd 100 days of storage, respectively. This high decay incidence might be due to high availability of moisture inside the package providing congenial environment for the growth of micro-organisms. Xtend® bag reduced decay on account of the modified atmosphere and modified humidity which might be due to moisture va p or a nd ga s t r a ns mis s ion p r event ing a ccumula tion of moistur e. Our r es ults a r e in confirmation with that of Samar et al. (2017). T he pomegra na te fr uits pa cked with differ ent packaging materials delayed metabolic activity and increased shelf life. The pomegranate fruits packed in MAP bags had 100 days of storage life compared to unpacked fruits which recorded only 40 days (Table 1). Shelf-life simulation of stored fruits (7±2º C) at ambient condition (25±5º C) was 4 to 5 days. The increase in storage life might be due to reduced metabolic activity and optimum gas and wa t er va p or tr a nsmis s ion r a te in M AP b a gs c r ea t ing op timu m condit ions a long wit h low temperature storage for fruits. T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage; Initial titratable acidity: 0.95 per cent Fig. 7. Effect of modified atmosphere package on titratable acidity percentage of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) T1- Polyethylene bag; T2- Polypropylene bag; T3- Xtend ® bag; T4- Silver nano bag; T5- Control (unpack) DAS: days after storage Fig. 8. Effect of modified atmosphere package on decay percentage of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) Table 1. Effect of modified atmosphere package on storage and shelf life of pomegranate fruits under low temperature storage (7±2o C) Storage life (Days) Shelf life (Days) at ambient condition Treatment at low temperature (25±5o C) (7±2o C) 60 DAS 80 DAS 100 DAS T1- Polyethylene bag 100 5.00 4.50 4.00 T2- Polypropylene bag 100 5.00 5.00 4.00 T3- Xtend ® bag 100 5.00 4.50 4.00 T4- Silver nano bag 100 5.00 5.00 4.00 T5- Control (unpack) 40 — — — DAS: Days after storage —: End of storage life Sahel et al J. Hortl. Sci. Vol. 17(1) : 184-189, 2022 189 CONCLUSION Pomegranate fruits packed with different MAP bags and stored in low temperature (7±2° C and relative humidity of 90±5 %) were found to have prolonged the storage and shelf life. The MAP bags such as polyethylene, polypropylene, Xtend® bag and silver nano bag (Hima fresh®) had shown to increase the storage life upto 100 days with minimum losses of (6 %) micr obial decay in ca se of Xtend® bag whereas, unpacked (control) fruits had a storage life of only 40 days. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Senior author is grateful to the University Support a nd Wor kfor ce Development Progr a m, Pur due Univer sity, West La fa yette, India na , USA for sponsoring the education programme and University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkote, India for providing all the support during the study period. REFERENCES Arendse, E., Fawoleo, A. and Opara, U. L. 2014. Effects of postha rvest storage condi tions on phyt o- chemica l an d ra dica l-sca venging acti vity of pomegranate fruit (cv. Wonderful). Sci. Hortic., 169: 125-129. Artés, F., Villaescusa, R. and Tudela, J.A. 2000. Modified atmosphere packaging of pomegranate. J. Food Sci., 65:1112-1116. Erkan, M. and Kader, A. A. 2011. 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Vol. 17(1) : 184-189, 2022 (Received: 27.08.2021; Revised: 06.03.2022; Accepted: 07.03.2022) 00 A Final SPH -JHS Coverpage First 2 pages.pdf 00 Content and in this issue.pdf 01 Mohan Kumar G N.pdf 02 Meera Pandey.pdf 03 Biradar C.pdf 04 Varalakshmi B.pdf 05 Vijayakumari N.pdf 06 Barik S.pdf 07 Sajid M B.pdf 08 Ranga D.pdf 09 Usha S.pdf 10 Manisha.pdf 11 Amulya R N.pdf 12 Akshatha H J.pdf 13 Adak T.pdf 14 Sujatha S.pdf 15 Gowda P P.pdf 16 Subba S.pdf 17 Dhayalan V.pdf 19 Ahmed S.pdf 20 Vishwakarma P K.pdf 21 Deep Lata.pdf 22 Udaykumar K P.pdf 23 Nayaka V S K.pdf 24 Sahel N A.pdf 25 Bayogan E R V.pdf 26 Rathinakumari A C.pdf 27 Yella Swami C.pdf 28 Saidulu Y.pdf 29 Sindhu S.pdf 30 Neeraj.pdf 31 Sivaranjani R.pdf 32 Rashied Tetteh.pdf 34 Sangeetha G.pdf 35 Shareefa M.pdf 36 Last Pages.pdf