Abstract

A study was carried out to estimate the postharvest losses of mango cv. ‘Khirsapat’ occurred at different stages of value chain from harvesting to retailoutlets as influenced by traditional and improved handling practices.The experiment was started from a mango orchard of Chapainawabganj and ended at retail outlets of Gazipur wet fruit market. Improved handling practices comprising of the use of BARI mango harvester, use of plastic crates as packaging container, stalk trimming and desapping, hot water treatment and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). In traditional handling practices, mangoes were harvested by a person sitting on the branch of a tree using a local mango harvester and then threw the fruits that received by another person from the ground using a gunny bag, bamboo basket was used as field container and sorted mangoes were finally packed in plastic crate for transporting to the wholesale market. Trimming, desapping and hot water treatment were not practiced in the traditional handling system. Three treatments, viz.T0 = traditional practice (Control); T1= Improved technology +plastic crates without MAP; and T2 = Improved technology +plastic crates with MAP were used in this study. Significant differences were observed among the treatments. At harvesting stage the postharvest losses were amounted by 1.5 and 5.0%, respectively, in improved and conventional methods, while at wholesale market, losses were 0.4 to 2.4% among the treatments.Transpiration loss of fruit reduced significantly in IP+MAP during transportation from Chapainawabganj to Gazipur wholesale market. Unmarketable mangoes due to decay caused by anthracnose and stem end rot on day 4 at retail outlets were 20.00, 13.00, and 11.5% in T0, T1, and T2 treatments, respectively. Total postharvest losses of mango amounted to 35 and 18.6% in traditional and improved practice, respectively. Thus, the reduction of postharvest loss over traditional practices was 46.80%. The firmness of fresh ripe mangoes were 52.80, 49.40 and 49.70 N in T0, T1, and T2 treatments at 3days after mango harvest, which decreased significantly to 13.20, 11.50, and 11.20 N in T0, T1, and T2 treatments on day 4 in retail shop. The TSScontents in ripe mangoes were found 13.90, 14.73, and 14.33% inT0, T1, and T2treatments on3 days after harvest, which increased to 18.30, 18.50, and 18.00%, respectively, on day 4 at retail shop. The Vit-C content decreased in all the treatmentssignificantlyon day 4in retail shop, while theβ-carotene (µg/g) increased in all the treatments on day 4 in retail shop. The results revealed that the intervention ofimproved postharvest technologies and the best practices were verymuch effective in reducing the postharvest losses and managing qualityof mango.

Keywords

mango, postharvest loss, desapping, trimming, hot water treatment, MAP and conventional methods