Hermetic Bags Effectively Preserve Dried Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. Fruits in Niger

Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. (jujube) is a valuable commercial fruit crop that is delicious and an effective herbal remedy. In the Sahel region of Africa, the jujube fruits are harvested from the wild and eaten dry. Postharvest management poses challenges due to insects, which leads to the degradation of the quality of the fruits. We assessed the performance of the Purdue Improved Crop Storage (PICS) bags for preserving dried jujube fruits from three regions of Niger. After four months of storage, we measured infestation levels, sugar content, and organoleptic parameters. Insect (Aubeus himalayanus Voss) population (though low at the beginning) and the number of fruits with holes increased in polypropylene (PP, control) bags by 100 to 212.50% and 7.58 to 12.96%, respectively. The fruit weight loss in PP treatments ranged from 4.64 to 9.94%. In PICS bags, however, pest infestations and damages were comparable to those observed at the initial stage. No significant differences were observed in sugar content of dried jujube fruits kept in PICS and PP bags after four months of storage. No changes were seen in the quality and organoleptic properties of jujube fruits stored in PICS bags; however, they appeared to decrease in PP bags. PICS bags can be effectively used to preserve the quality of dried jujube fruits in the Sahel.