Chemical Treatments for Shelf Life Enhancement of Stone Fruits

Abstract

Stone fruits, including mango, peach, plum, and apricot, are known for their luscious taste and higher nutritional and processing value, creating a year around market demand. However, these fruits are harvested in a articular time period in a year. Market glut during the peak season is a common hindrance for a good economic return of the cultivators. However, the situation gets aggravated due to the perishable nature of these stone fruits which limits the longer duration storage and transportation under ambient temperature. For longer storage and transportation, these fruits require a cold storage accompanied with modified atmospheric storage (MAS) or controlled atmospheric storage (CAS) facility and cold chain. However, cold storage and cold chain may not provide a viable solution to some stone fruits like mango and peach due to their vulnerability to cold-induced or chilling injury (CI). Pre- or postharvest treatment with chemicals like 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), calcium chloride, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), oxalic acid, and melatonin at very low concentration can be a feasible option for these problems. Apart from enhancing shelf life and storability, these chemical treatments can also maintain nutritional attributes. In some stone fruits, chemical treatments followed by cold temperature storage enhance longer duration storability. Various chemical treatments and their underlying mechanism to enhance the shelf life of stone fruits will be discussed in this chapter.