Influence of Calcium Sources and Concentrations on the Quality and Storage Performance of Peach
Influence of Calcium Sources and Concentrations on the Quality and Storage Performance of Peach
Syed Tanveer Shah* and Muhammad Sajid
ABSTRACT
A research study was undertaken to study the effect of pre-harvest calcium application on the post harvest life of peach. The research was laid out in Randomized Complete Block (RCB) Design with three factors replicated three times. Peach fruit trees at berry stage were sprayed with three sources of calcium (calcium chloride, calcium nitrate and calcium sulphate) at three calcium concentrations (0.5, 0.75 and 1.0%) stored for 30 days at 10 days interval. The experimental results showed that calcium sources, concentration and storage duration significantly affected all the studied attributes. More fruit firmness (5.57 and 5.69 kg cm2), less Total soluble solids [TSS] (8.57 and 8.26 °Brix) and TSS-acid ratio (12.62 and 11.48) were recorded by the alone application of calcium chloride at 1.0% calcium concentration, respectively. The effect of calcium sources and concentration on the rest of the quality attributes were found non-significant. The means for storage duration showed that freshly harvested fruits resulted in better fruit firmness (5.69 kg cm-2), TSS (8.67 °Brix), ascorbic acid content (6.43 mg 100 g-1), more TSS-acid ratio (0.74), were noted in fruits stored for 10 days. The interaction of Ca-source and Ca-concentration for most of the studied attributes were found significant. It is concluded from the present results that pre-harvest foliar application of CaCl2 (1.0%) at berry sized fruit stage significantly retained the quality attributes for 30 days during storage with an average temperature of 8±2°C and relative humidity of 50%, hence recommended for the grower of Peshawar valley.
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