Journal of Applied Horticulture. 2005: 7(2): 105-107

Preharvest bagging of litchi fruits influence their storage potential

Jiang YueMing; Su XinGuo; Jiang YueLin; Li YueBiao; Lin WenBin

South China Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou LeYiJu 510650, China.

Litchi fruit has a very short shelf life after harvest. To determine the potential of fruit bagging for extending storage life, litchi fruits were enclosed in 0.05 mm white polyethylene bags at 0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 days before normal harvest. At commercial maturity, bagged and unbagged litchi fruits were picked and then held individually in closed but vented containers for 6 days at 20 degrees C and 95-100% relative humidity in the dark. Bagging of fruits before normal harvest markedly delayed skin browning and reduced rot development of litchi fruit during storage. The best inhibition of the browning and disease development of litchi fruit was observed when the fruit was bagged 3 days before normal harvest. Bagged fruits had lower levels of total soluble solids (TSS) and titratable acidity (TA), but no significant differences in the TS and TA between bagged and unbagged fruits after 6 days of storage were recorded for flesh tissues. Thus, bagging fruit before normal harvest had the potential to reduce rots, maintain physical quality and extend storage life of harvested litchi fruit.