Shova Shrestha¹ , Bishal Shrestha² , Arati Chapai¹ , Prativa Acharya¹ , Nisha Bhandari¹ , Susma Adhikari¹

1 College of Natural Resource Management, Bardibas, Mahottari, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, 44200, Nepal
2 Department of Horticulture, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, 44200, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol. 14, No. 3   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0020
Received: 08 Apr., 2024    Accepted: 15 Jun., 2024    Published: 01 Jul., 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Shrestha S., Shrestha B., Chapai A., Acharya P., Bhandari N., and Adhikari S., 2024, Effect of different concentrations of salicylic acid as post-harvest treatment on physicochemical properties and shelf life of mango (Mangifera indica cv. Bombay green), International Journal of Horticulture, 14(3): 175-185 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0020)

This study was undertaken at the Horticulture Laboratory of College of Natural Resource Management Bardibas, Mahottari, Nepal in 2023. Physiological loss in weight, fruit firmness, shelf life, pulp pH, Total soluble solids (TSS), Titratable acidity (TA), and TSS: TA ratio were to be determined for the study. The study contained 5 different concentrations of salicylic acid as five treatments (0 ppm, 50 ppm, 100 ppm, 150 ppm and 200 ppm) with four replications of each on a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). For each treatment destructive and non-destructive sample were prepared. Data obtained from various biochemical analyses of physicochemical properties (physiological loss in weight, total soluble solids, titratable acidity, pulp pH, TSS: TSS ratio, and shelf life of mango) were recorded and statistically analyzed by using Gen-Stat software. The fruits were evaluated at the three-day interval after the initial reading taken on the day of storage and further data were recorded after 3,6,9,12, and 15 days of storage. Among all the salicylic acid treatments, @200 ppm recorded the minimum physiological loss in weight, the highest total soluble solids (21.44ºBrix), maximum fruit firmness (1.91 kg/cm²), highest titratable acidity (0.166%), highest TSS: TA ratio (129.4), and minimum pulp PH (6.00). The longest shelf life was observed with fruit treated with a 200 ppm concentration of salicylic acid (15.71 days) which was similar to 150 ppm of salicylic acid (15.35 Days). Salicylic acid at 200 ppm showed the best performance in retarding the changes in physicochemical properties and prolonging the shelf life of mango fruits.

Post-harvest treatment; Bombay green; Shelf life; Physicochemical properties; Salicylic acid