Abstract

Guava (Psidium guajava) is a tropical fruit that is highly nutritious but highly perishable. The high perishability rate of the fruit is a clear indication that this fruit requires good post-harvest handling and preservation techniques to prolonging its shelf life. Evaporative cooling technology has been widely adopted for proper storage of perishable products, especially fruits and vegetables. This research was conducted with an objective of evaluating the shelf life of guavas stored in a scoria evaporative cooler in combination with neem extract treatment and beeswax treatment. A portion of the guavas was treated and stored in both ambient and evaporative cooler conditions while the other portion was untreated and stored in both ambient and evaporative cooler conditions. The changes in quality of the guavas over time were evaluated based on the physical, chemical and organoleptic properties of the fruit. The microclimate of the evaporative cooler i.e the temperature and relative humidity, were recorded using a data logger. The shelf life of neem extract treated guavas stored in the evaporative cooler increased by an average of 2 days compared with ambient conditions. For the beeswax treated guava the shelf-life increase by an average of six days compared to the ambient. For untreated guavas the increase in shelf life was 6 days relative to the ambient. The beeswax coated gauvas stored in the evaporative cooler retained the recommended firmness for 5 days more than the ambient. These results show that evaporative cooling combined with beeswax treatment have enormous potential to prolong the shelf-life of guavas significantly. Thus scoria evaporative cooler could be a game changer in post-harvest handing of guavas in rural areas.

Keywords

guava, post-harvest technology, evaporative cooling, beeswax coating