Effects of Hexanal and Calcium Chloride Post-Harvest Treatments in Management of Fresh Mango (Mangifera indica) Quality

Experiments were conducted at the Sokoine University of Agriculture to assess the effects of hexanal at (0.02%) (volume/volume) and calcium chloride (2%) (weight/volume), on post-harvest quality of mango ('Palmer' and 'Apple') under different storage conditions and durations. A three factors factorial experiment was used for each variety and replicated six times. The fruits were stored at ambient temperature (28 +/- 2 degrees C) or reduced temperatures (18 +/- 2 degrees C) storage conditions. Data included physiological weight loss (PWL), fruit firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS/TA ratio, vitamin C, total flavonoids, reducing sugar and total sugars which was collected at 0, 4, 8 and 12 days after harvest. Results indicated that hexanal and calcium chloride significantly (p < 0.001) reduced mango PWL and improved fruit firmness and TSS of both varieties compared to untreated fruits. Hexanal-treated fruits maintained high vitamin C, total flavonoids, total and reducing sugars irrespective of the storage conditions. Vitamin C and total flavonoids of mango fruits decreased with storage time, whereas total and reducing sugar contents increased with storage time. Both treatments maintained physico-chemical qualities of mango fruits, when stored under reduced temperature storage.