Physicochemical Changes of Apple (Malus domestica) Fruit Cultivars as Influenced by Maturity Stages and Postharvest Management Practices

Abstract

አህፅሮት

ይህ ምርምር የተካሄደው በጨንቻ (ኢትዮጵያ) የበቀሉ ሦስት የአፕል ዝርያዎች ከተመረቱ በ3 ሳምንታት ክምችት ጊዜ የሚያሳዩትን ለውጦች ለማወቅ ነው። ሁሉም የተለኩ የጥራት አመላካቾች በሦስቱ ዝርያዎች፣ በብስለት ደረጃቸውና በማሸጊያ (መያዣ) ዓይነቶች ትርጉም ባለው ደረጃ ልዩነት አሳይቷል። በብዙ አምራቾች ገበያ ለመሻማት የሚደረገውን ለመወከል ከትክክለኛው የመሰብሰቢያ ጊዜው በ2 ሳምንታት ቀድመው የተለቀሙት ናሙናዎች ከፍ ያለ ጠጣርነት (ጥንካሬ) አስመዝግበዋል። እንደዚሁም አነስተኛ ጥቅል ሟሚ ጥጥሮችም (total soluble solids) ለነዚሁ ቀድመው ለተለቀሙ ናሙናዎች (በዝርያ ሳይለይ) ተመዝግቧል። ጠጣርነቱ (ጥንካሬው) በክምችቱ ጊዜ እየቀነሰ ሲሄድ ጥቅል ሟሚ ጥጥሮቹ (በብዛት ስኳር) ግን መጠናቸው እየጨመረ መሄዱ በተወሰነ ደረጃ የተስተዋለ ሲሆን ይህም የአፕል ፍሬዎቹ ለመብል ተፈላጊነታቸው (ልስላሴና ጥፍጥናቸው) እየጨመረ መምጣቱን ያሳይ ይሆናል። ይሁንና በእሼትነታቸው የሚበሉ እንደ አፕል ያሉ ፍራፍሬዎች መሰብሰብና ለገበያ መቅረብ ያለባቸው እድገታቸውን ጨርሰው በትክክለኛው የብስለት ጊዜያቸው እንደሆነ እና በዚህ መንገድም የተሻለ ዋጋ እንደሚያወጡ ለአምራቾቹ የግንዛቤ መፍጠሪያ ስልጠናዎችና የኤክስቴንሽን ሥራዎች እንደሚያስፈልጋቸው ማስገንዘብ ተገቢ ነው።

Abstract

This research was conducted to understand changes of physicochemical properties of fruits of three apple cultivars as influenced by the stage of maturity and packaging types over a storage period of three weeks. The research was designed to replicate practices by the producers and along the value chains and to assess the fruit quality under the conditions of the major markets in the region. All the measured physicochemical parameters significantly varied with the cultivars, maturity stage at harvest, and packaging types. Higher firmness was recorded for the samples harvested about two weeks before the optimal maturity, usually practiced by a significant number of producers to gain market advantage. Lower total soluble solids corresponded to the early harvested samples regardless of cultivars and packaging types. The firmness was observed decreasing over the storage periods whereas the total soluble solids increased, which is associated with improving sensorial quality for the early harvested cultivars as the soluble solids are mainly sugars. The early harvesting resulted in fruits of inferior desirability including extreme hardness, firmness, and low total soluble solids that may have high sourness and less sweet taste. Awareness creation for the producers on the quality and advantages of harvesting their produces at optimal maturity and practicing good postharvest management is required.