Postharvest Application of 6-Benzylaminopurine Preserves Quality and Delays Senescence of Pointed Gourd (Trichosanthes dioica Roxb.) Fruit

This experiment investigated the effect of postharvest 6-benzylaminopurine treatment for preserving quality and improving storability of pointed gourd fruit. The fruits were treated with 6-benzylaminopurine (1.0 mM, 2.0 mM and 3.0 mM) by immersion method and stored at room temperature while, control fruits were treated with distilled water. Weight loss, total chlorophyll, total carotenoids, malondialdehyde content, ascorbic acid, total phenol and total flavonoids content were monitored at every 2 days of interval during storage. Among the treatments, 3.0 mM BAP-treated fruits showed 24% lower weight loss and 30% lower chlorophyll loss over control. After 6 days of storage, these fruits retained about 21% higher ascorbic acid, 27% higher total phenol and 28% higher total flavonoids than control. Senescence of the treated fruit was also delayed by 3.0 mM 6-benzylaminopurine treatment, showing 22% lower accumulation of malondialdehyde and 26% lower total carotenoids content compared to control.