USE OF ALTERNATIVE COATINGS IN POST-HARVEST CONSERVATION OF PAPAYA ‘SUNRISE SOLO’

Abstract

The culture of papaya has an expressive participation in the national fruit growing production . However, it still presents a high post harvest loss rate. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the application of alternative coatings of vegetable origin on the post harvest conservation of papaya fruits of the cultivar Sunrise Solo. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, in a 4 x 4 factorial scheme (4 treatments x 4 periods evaluated), with four replications, where each replicate corresponds to 1 papaya fruit, totaling 64 fruits (64 plots). The treatments were randomly distributed: T1: Witness (without coating); T2: Purified coconut oil at 3% concentration; T3: 5% cassava starch; T4: Carnauba wax Aruá BR Tropical 18%. Fruits were selected in the pre climacteric stage, they were immersed for one minute in their respective treatments and stored in disposable containers, then stored at a mean temperature of 28,6 °C ± 3 °C and a mean relative humidity of 54,5%. The following variables were evaluated: shell color, fresh weight loss, pH and total soluble solids. The use of alternative coatings in papaya fruits, slows the color change during the evaluations in comparison to the treatment without application (control), emphasizing the treatment with (5%) cassava starch application. The fruits coated with carnauba wax (18%) showed the lowest values in the loss of mass in all seasons of evaluations, differing significantly from the other treatments. Cover treatments do not significantly influence the pH value and total soluble solids of papaya fruits during all evaluation periods.