Effect of Different Storage Methods on the Shelf Life of Guava Fruits and Some Quality Indicators

Guava is fifth most important fruit crop of India in production after banana, mango, citrus and papaya. Guava fruits are widely used by consumers as a fresh or are processed into a variety of value-added products in the food industries such as jam, jelly, cheese, nectar, paste. Guava fruits without any treatment and wrapper (1000g) were placed over perforated plastic round basket and stored under Room storage, Refrigeration and zero energy cool chamber (ZECC) up to 5 days with thrice replication. The moisture (%), mass (g), physiological loss in weight (PLW), shrinkage (%) and colour of guava was evaluated. It is clear from that the shelf life of guava were increased considerable by keeping them in room storage, Refrigeration and ZECC. Low PLW and shrinkage was noticed under refrigeration and ZECC throughout the period of storage. Lowest decrement in PLW and shrinkage was observed in Zero energy cool chamber, refrigeration as compared to room storage condition. ZECC is suitable for increasing shelf life of fruits and vegetables without non-renewable energy sources.