Studies on the standardization of ripening techniques for oranges

Fruits of oranges cultivar’ free from any external and internal disorders harvested at physiological green mature stage were utilized for studying its ripening behavior. Initially, fruits were treated with Neem oil (1%). in order to break any pest attack and the treatments were given as foliar spray. Freshly harvested fruit were divided into different lots. The first lot of fruit was treated with ethylene gas as they were exposed to ethylene gas (150 ppm). for 24 h in ripening chamber. Similarly, another lot was treated with various concentrations of ethephon (250, 500, 750, 1000 ppm). primarily in aqueous solution each for 5 min. Immediately, after aforementioned referred treatments, the treated fruits were packed in sanitized plastic crates and stored in ripening chamber in which temperature and RH were maintained at 20 to 25°C and 85 to 95%, respectively. Treatment with ethylene gas (150 ppm). or ethephon (750 ppm). resulted in adequate ripening of fruits after 28 days with most acceptable quality attributes such as flavour, uniform colour, acceptable firmness and extended shelf-life. On the other hand, the untreated lots of fruits were poor in quality attributes. It was observed that timely adopting ripening techniques with ethylene gas or ethephon are better in reducing various postharvest decay and losses and strengthening the economy of farmers all over oranges producing states of the countries.   Key words: Oranges, pre-harvest treatments, ripening techniques, ethylene gas, ethephon, overall quality, shelf life.