Good results applying chitosan to improve table grape postharvest

Worldwide population is increasing day by day?due to which the demand for food production will be?increased by 60% in 2050. However, a huge portion of?food is being lost through pre-harvest and postharvest?factors.?Grape production is increasing in Pakistan during?the recent years. Due to the minimum shelf life, it has?significant postharvest losses. Therefore, the present study?was designed to find out new techniques for improving the?quality and overcoming the post-harvest losses of grapes.?Chitosan at 0.5% and salts (CaCl2 and NaHCO3) at 2%?were sprayed at the pre-harvest stage of King?s Ruby?stored at ambient temperature (30-35?C) for 15 days. The?results of the study revealed that 0.5% chitosan solution?particularly improved the quality of table grapes. After 15days of storage, the decline in antioxidant and decay?incidence was recorded at 13.44 and 13.43%, respectively?in treated samples as compared to 20.61 and 20.1% in?control. A two-time greater reduction in acidity loss was?achieved by Chitosan. Similarly, the antioxidant and?phenolic contents of grapes were also preserved to a?greater extent. Salts solutions were moderately effective in?improving the quality of the shelf life of grapes. Hence, the?pre-harvest application of the Chitosan solution proved to?be a successful strategy in preserving the quality and shelf?life of grapes. ? Pictures correspond to Figure 1 and 2 of the original paper and show the moisture loss and the decay index, respectively. SourcePreservation of table grapes through innovative techniquesAnwaar Ahmed,?Umer Sarwar,?Naeem Khalid,?Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan Abi,?Shahmeen Khalid,?Sahar?Shibli?and Arshad Mahmood MalikJournal of Pure and Applied Agriculture (2020) 5(1): 39-45https://jpaa.aiou.edu.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/JPAA_2020_51_39-45.pdf