Effect of Post Harvest Treatments and Storage Conditions on Physico-Chemical Properties of Starking Delicious Apples

Abstract

Apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) belongs to Rosaceae family and is one of the most economically important fruit trees of temperate zones (Martinelli et al., 2008). Agro-climatic conditions in hilly regions of Himachal Pradesh offer immense natural potential for increasing productivity under temperate fruits, especially apple. Though the area and production under apple cultivation in Himachal Pradesh has increased during the last few decades, but the productivity per unit area has not increased proportionally and is quite low as compared to other apple growing countries of the world. The reasons for low apple productivity could be many, but one of them is lack of sufficient storage infrastructures. Due to its tendency towards fast ripening and quality breakdown, apple is difficult to keep well for longer period of time. Number of workers has made attempts to increase the storage life of apples using different strategies at the pre or post harvest International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 04 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com