Effects of Harvest Time on Physicochemical Attributes of Papaya cv. Red Lady under Storage

Papaya (Carica papaya L.) is the most important nutritious fruit crop of the tropical and subtropical region, belongs to the caricaceae family. In this study, the main objective was to evaluate the effects of harvest time on fruit quality attributes. For this papaya fruit cv. Red Lady was harvested at three different times during 7 A.M., 12 P.M., and 5 P.M. then it brings to the laboratory for evaluation. In this present study different physicochemical parameters viz. TSS, Acidity, TSS-Acidity ratio, physiological loss in weight (PLW), firmness of fruit and fruit volume were evaluated at 0 and 3 days interval up to the 9thdays of storage. The results from pooled data showed that the TSScontent ranged from 8.48 to 9.95 °Brix, acidity content from 0.25 to 0.29%, TSS-Acidity ratio from 30.27 to 38.25, PLW from 15.12 to 19.81% and fruit volume from 517 to 822 ml at 9thday of storage. The firmness of the fruit maintained higher (7.20 kg/cm2) at 5 P.M. harvested fruit which is at par (7.13 kg/cm2) with 7 A.M. harvested fruit and lowest (4.88 kg/cm2) at 12 P.M. harvested fruit. Among the three different harvesting time, fruit harvested at 7 A.M., and 5 P.M. showed overall good results in maintaining quality attributes. Whereas, fruits of 12 P.M. results in higher rate of physiological loss in weight of fruit than others.