Gamma Irradiation Treatment of Cherry - Impact on Storage Quality, Decay Percentage and Post- Refrigeration Shelf-life Extension

Present study was conducted to investigate the effect of gamma irradiation on storage quality and post refrigeration shelf-life extension of cherry. Two commercial varieties of cherry fruit (Misri and Double) after harvest at commercial maturity were gamma irradiated in the dose range of 0.3 - 1.5 kGy followed by storage under ambient (temperature 25 +/- 2 degrees C, RH 70%) and refrigerated (temperature 3 +/- 1 degrees C, RH 80%) conditions. Among treatments, dose of 1.2 and 1.5 kGy effectively maintained the storage quality and significantly (p <= 0.05) delayed the decay of the cherry varieties. In samples treated with dose of 1.2 and 1.5 kGy no decay was recorded up to 9 days of ambient storage. Under refrigerated conditions, cherry samples of control and those irradiated in the range of 0.3 - 0.9 kGy started decaying after 14 days of storage. No decay was observed in 1.2 and 1.5 kGy samples of both the varieties up to 28 days of refrigerated storage. The treatments of 1.2 and 1.5 kGy gave an extension of 6 days in shelf life of cherry varieties during post-refrigerated storage at 25 +/- 2 degrees C, RH 70% following 28 days of refrigeration. Firmness comparison of treatments revealed that dose of 1.2 kGy was found to be better compared to 1.5 kGy due to decrease in firmness observed in cherry samples irradiated at 1.5 kGy. Thus, radiation processing of Kashmiri Cheries at 1.2 kGy can prove beneficial in facilitating the marketing of the fruit to distant places other than the local markets, thereby benefiting the growers.