Impact of Certain Fungicides and Calcium Nitrate on Quality and Shelf Life of Kinnow Mandarin

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during the year 2019-20 to study the effect of different fungicides and calcium nitrate on the quality and shelf life of Kinnow mandarin”. A spray of carbendazim, copper oxychloride, mancozeb, propiconazole, nimbecidine, calcium nitrate, and their combinations were done ten days prior to harvesting on ten years old Kinnow plants. When compared to fruits from untreated plants, the fruits from plants treated with fungicides, nimbecidine, calcium nitrate, and their mixtures showed much less rotting. The most successful treatment for preventing fruit rot after harvest was carbendazim 0.05% + calcium nitrate 1%, followed by propiconazole 0.05% + calcium nitrate 1%. with various pre-harvest treatments, it was discovered that the Total dissolved solids (TSS), acidity, TSS/acid ratio, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, and total sugar of Kinnow fruits were not significantly affected. Among all the treatments, the maximum ascorbic acid content (24.10 mg/100 ml of juice) was reported in mancozeb 0.2% + calcium nitrate 1% and propiconazole 0.05% + calcium nitrate 1% during storage in Kinnow fruits. The most prominent pathogens associated with decay loss were identified as Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Diplodia natalensis and Penicillium sp. during the storage period.