M.S. Haque Shuvo, S.B. Rahman, M.G. Mortuza and M.A. Rahman
Abstract:
The effects of variety and ripening stage on physicochemical changes and quality of pineapple were studied. A completely randomized design with three replications was laid out for this experiment. Fruits of Giant Kew and Honey Queen variety were tested at three ripening stages viz., Stage I (25% yellow) Stage II (50% yellow) and Stage III (75% yellow). Ripening stages significantly influenced most of the parameters studied. Among the physicochemical parameters, color, firmness, total weight loss, dry matter content and Total Soluble Solids (TSS) contents significantly increased, whereas moisture and vitamin C content decreased during storage. Reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar and total sugar increased at 6th days of storage but decreased at 9th days of storage period. The longest shelf life (13 days) was observed in the Honey Queen variety under Stage I and the shortest shelf life (8.50 days) was observed in Stage III of Giant Kew variety. Ripening stage III of Honey Queen contained the highest (18.74%) amount of total sugar followed by Stage III of Giant Kew (17.82%). TSSs were higher in Honey Queen than Giant Kew. TSS content in fruits at 9th day of storage was maximum (18.85%) under Stage III and minimum (16.55%) in Stage I.
Key words: Physicochemical parameters, Variety, Ripening stage, Storage.