Abstract

Preharvest fruit bagging has emerged as a novel technology in practice, which is simple, grower friendly, safe and beneficial for production of quality fruits. An investigation was undertaken in 2013 and 2014 for two consecutive fruiting seasons entitled studies on influence of bagging of fruits at marble stage on quality of mango cv. Alphonso. The fruits were bagged at marble stage (30 days from fruit set) with different types of bags which constituted the various treatments viz: T₁: Newspaper bag; T₂: Brown paper bag; T₃: Scurting bag; T₄: Polythene bag; T₅: Butter paper bag; T₆: Muslin cloth bag; T₇: Brown paper bag with polythene coating; T₈: control (no bagging). The experiment was conducted in Randomised Block Design with eight treatments replicated three times. The preharvest bagging modified fruit retention, period required for harvesting after bagging, physico-chemical composition of mature and ripe fruit, shelf life, occurrence of spongy tissue and pest incidence. Bagging with newspaper bag and brown paper bag improved fruit retention, weight of fruit, diameter of fruit, pulp weight, total soluble solids and reducing sugars at ripe stage and produced spongy tissue free fruits. The brown paper bag with polythene coating improved fruit retention, weight of fruit, pulp weight and decreased occurrence of spongy tissue and incidence of mealy bag. The butter paper bag, muslin cloth bag and scurting bag improved fruit retention, reduced occurrence of spongy tissue and incidence of mealy bag. Preharvest bagging with different types of bag did not change the sensory qualities of ripe fruits mango cv.Alphonso.

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