Effect of post-harvest treatments on shelf-life of aonla (Emblica officinalis) fruits damaged during harvesting

Physically injured and fresh aonla fruits of cultivar 'Desi' were treated separately with CaCl2, Ca(NO3)(2), wax and tap water (control) and stored at ambient conditions (13.3 degrees C, 65.6% RH) for 3 weeks to Study changes in their post-harvest physico-chemical characteristics. The length to width ratio of fruits varied from 0.90 to 0.93 and is not affected by storage period, fruit condition and post-harvest treatment. Physiological loss in weight of injured aonla fruit (extent of injury 1.1 to 20.0%), total soluble solids (12.1 to 17.5 degrees Brix) and the ascorbic acid (932.1 to 751.1 mg/100 g) were affected by post-harvest treatments and storage period. However, the fruits coated with wax did not have adverse effect on their physico-chemical characteristics up to 3 weeks. Visually they were not spoiled till 3 weeks. It is therefore, recommended that physically injured fruit could be stored with wax coating for 3 weeks.