Postharvest calcium chloride application maintains shelf life and quality of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica L.) fruit

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica L.) is an important sub-tropical fruit with very limited postharvest life. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated the effect of calcium chloride (CaCl2) treatments on the shelf life and quality of loquat fruit. After harvest loquat fruit treated with different concentrations of CaCl2 viz. 2%, 4% and 6% for 2 min were kept at room temperature (30±2oC) for 5 and 10 days. Untreated fruit were kept as control. The results showed that fruit treated with 6% CaCl2 exhibited minimum fruit weight loss (9.1%), external browning (8.83%), and internal browning (9.1%) after 10 days shelf period in contrast with control fruit. Lowest total soluble solids contents (9.11%), highest titratable acidity (0.53%) and juice (28%) contents were found in fruit treated with 6% CalCl2 as compared to other treatments. In conclusion, among the tested treatments, application of highest level of CaCl2 (6%) effectively maintained the quality of loquat fruit a room temperature.