Impact of postharvest treatments on storage life and quality of "Mexican" lima

Plant Production Dep., College of Food and Agric. Sciences, King Saud UniversityThe present work was carried out on "Mexican" lime (Citrus aurantifolia Swing.) during 2004 and 2005 seasons. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of hot water, calcium chloride and sodium chloride on storage life and quality of "Mexican" lime. Fruits were subjected to the following treatments: T1) water dipping at ambient temperature (≈ 20°C); T2) hot water dipping at 55°C; T3) hot water dipping containing sodium chloride, 1% (W/V) at 55°C; T4) hot water dipping containing sodium chloride, 2 % (W/V) at 55°C; T5) hot water dipping containing calcium chloride, 1% (W/V) at 55°C; T6) hot water dipping containing calcium chloride, 2% (W/V) at 55°C. Fruits were subjected to water dipping for 5 min. Treated fruits were stored in cold room at 12°C, relative humidity (RH) was maintained at 90 %. The obtained results revealed that dipping fruits in hot water with sodium chloride 1% & 2% was effective in prolonging the shelf- life two weeks more than the other treatments in both seasons. The weight loss increased with increasing storage period in both seasons. The fruits dipping in hot water at 55°C significantly had a measurable influence in reducing the percentages of loss in fruit weight at ambient temperature (≈ 20°C). The lowest values of weight loss were detected with fruits dipped in hot water containing calcium chloride 2 %, while the highest values were detected with fruits dipped in water at ambient temperature in both seasons. Fruits dipped in water at ambient temperature and hot water at 55°C degreened after four weeks, while fruits dipped in hot water with sodium chloride (1% & 2%) or calcium chloride (1%&2%) reached yellow color after eight weeks. Fruits dipped in hot water with calcium chloride 1% or 2% have significant high values of juice %, TSS and technological index at ten weeks of storage period compared with other treatments in both seasons. All treatments had no effect on the values of fruit acidity and vitamin C. However, vitamin C significantly decreased with increasing the storage duration