EFFECT OF CHITOSAN’S COATING AND HARVESTING TIME TO THE QUALITY AND SHELF-LIFE OF MELON (CUCUMIS MELO L.)

Melon is one of high demands fruit in Indonesia, but the research about the fruit coating to fresh melon is still rare. This research is about application of fruit coating (chitosan) in different harvesting times to keep the quality and shelf-life of melon in room storage. The study was aimed to study the effect of chitosan and harvesting time on fruit quality and shelflife melon in normal room storage. The research was conducted using a completely randomized design in two factors. The first consisted of 2 treatments; without coating (control) and with the coating (chitosan). The second consisted of 3 treatments of harvesting time; 60, 65, and 70 days after planting. Each treatment is repeated 4 times. The data is then analyzed in variance with F-test, then proceeded with the separation of the middle value with LSD at the 5% level. The results showed that fruits shelf-life can be extended until 20 days storage based on visual observation, but for fruits that were applied chitosan and harvested on 60 and 70 days can be extended 10 days and 15 days only. Application of chitosan didn’t significantly affect the quality of the melon such as on weight loss, soluble solids, and level of preferences (color, sweetness, texture, and aroma), but as additional information the level of preferences test showed that fruits applied with chitosan which were harvested on 65 and 70 days after planting experienced off-flavor on the 5th days of storage