Vol. 11, Special Issue 8 (2022)

Author(s):
Hanumantharaju KN, Chaithradeepa GM, Avinash V Prabhu, David Elisha Henry, Shobitha AS and Lokesh AC

Abstract:
Perishable products like fruits and vegetables necessitate optimal storage conditions in order to increase their shelf life. Improper packaging and storage are the main factors which influence on increased post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables. Small and marginal farmers are unable to access for modern storage units so it results to 40% of agricultural production waste. To resolve this issue, an eco-friendly low-cost package was developed. This package uses clay to coat the carton boxes, which uses the selective permeability and lowers the respiration and transpiration losses of fruits and vegetables stored in the container. To determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the coated carton boxes were analysed by employing CO₂ (30g) O₂ (5g) absorbers, and various quantities (5-15g) of KMnO_4. The package without any absorbers had achieved maximum storage shelf life compared to other packages containing gas observer. This is mainly due to reduced respiration and transpiration losses from the fruits due to selective permeability of clay coated carton box.