Mango postharvest technology- Part 01
Harvest
When it comes to providing consumers in the market with the fruit of high quality, one of the most critical decisions a grower must make is when to harvest their crop. Suppose mangoes are picked before they have reached their optimal maturity. In that case, they may eventually ripen. Still, their flavour and aroma will suffer, they will be more susceptible to chilling injuries brought on by the low temperatures experienced during transport, and their shelf life will be significantly reduced. The following are the most common and successful harvesting procedures that have been proven to produce high-quality mangoes based on the combined expertise of those working in the mango industry. See Mango fruit processing village how to process the mango.
Worker training: harvest and Sanitary conditions:
Most mango farms in growing regions around Latin America hire seasonal workers temporarily due to the cyclical nature of the mango harvest. It is a well-known fact that seasonal harvest workers frequently come back to the same farms year after year to continue their employment there. However, due to the cyclical nature of the harvest, harvest teams must undergo annual retraining to guarantee mangos of the highest possible quality. Indicators of harvest maturity, processes for removing latex, best practices for sanitation, and the protection of workers should all be included in the training.
Maturity Stage
It is essential for the eating quality of ripe mango that the mangos have reached a certain degree of maturity before they are harvested. Several characteristics, including fruit shape, peel colour, peel texture, flesh firmness, flesh colour development, soluble solids content, and latex content, can be used to select the optimal level of fruit maturity. Although there may be some variation in the parameters used for harvesting each variety of mango farmed for commercial purposes, every commercial grower uses at least one of these parameters as an aid in the harvesting process. The expression of maturity markers in mango fruits can be affected by variances in mango varietals and differences in growing areas, climatic conditions, and agronomic practices. Consequently, it is the responsibility of the farmer to validate which criteria prove to be the most successful and reliable for their particular conditions. See the section under "Determining Mango Fruit Maturity" in the coming section for more information on how to identify whether or not a mango fruit is mature and ready to eat.
Quality Assurance
Measurement
- Condition General: Give the display a score depending on how the fruit appears in general, taking into account the overall appearance of the display.
- Peel Coloration (Percentage of Red Colouring): Mangoes can have a variety of skin colourations, depending on the variety, ripeness stage, growing region (climatic conditions), and pruning procedures. Mangoes can have anywhere from 0% to 100% red colouration on their peels (light penetration inside the canopy). In most cases, a skin blush, which can range in colour from reddish pink to purple, is the result of light penetrating the canopy well and nighttime temperatures being on the cooler side. On the other hand, indicators of ripeness in the peel of the fruit include colours yellow and orange, as well as the absence of green colour. Pickers only collect commercially viable fruit once it has reached its physiological peak of ripeness. However, several phases of ripeness may occur on the tree while it is being harvested. However, the changes in peel colour that indicate ripening include the degradation of chlorophyll and the commencement of carotenoid pigment formation rather than red colour. The percentage of the fruit surface that shows a reddish colour is commonly used as a criterion for determining mango peel colour. Some kinds remain green when they mature. Numerous experts in the marketing of fruit and vegetables came to the conclusion that consumers in the United States prefer mangoes with a blush on their peels.
- Fruit Size: Mangoes are often exported in 4-kilogram boxes that, depending on the size of the fruit, can contain anywhere from one to four times the normal number of individual mangoes. The specific number of mangoes packed into a box by a mango packinghouse is six, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen; consequently, the average fruit weights for these sizes are approximately 667, 571, 550, 444, 400, 333, 286, and 250 grammes, respectively. Mango packinghouses typically pack boxes with either six, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen mangoes. When there is an abundance of fruit available on the U.S. market, size standards become more stringent; typically, mangoes must be no smaller than a size 10 in order to be sold.
- Ground Color: Determine the colour of the skin, eliminating the region that is red in colour (often known as the "blush"), and classify it as either G for green, T for turning (light greenish-yellow), or Y for yellow. Even though there are varying degrees of colour, it is essential to focus on the colour that predominates when characterising the ground colour.
- Peduncle Trimming: Note whether the peduncle is present or not (Y/N); if the peduncle is present, it should be no longer than roughly half an inch if it was broken off at the natural abscission zone (indicate whether the length is greater than or less than half an inch).
- Lenticel Spots: Lenticels are natural apertures in mango peels that permit the gas exchange involved in the process of respiration. Mangoes have several of these openings. During postharvest storage, lenticel fruit has a black, necrotic appearance. This is especially noticeable in mangoes subjected to hot water treatment. The appearance of lenticel spots on the fruit peel may be an early sign of damage caused by exposure to hot water or damage caused by exposure to cold. Lenticel spotting should be assessed on a scale ranging from 0 to 3 and evaluated based on the percentage of the fruit's surface area that is impacted by the condition:
Written By: Techno Journey