Postharvest shelf life of mango fruits stored in a CoolbotTM cold room

The Coolbot(TM) technology is an innovative cold storage technology promoted among smallholder farmers as a low-cost alternative to conventional cold rooms. The objective of the present study was to establish the efficacy of a Coolbot(TM) cold room to preserve quality and extend shelf life of mango fruits. The study was conducted in a participatory approach with smallholder mango farmers in Makueni County of Kenya between 2014 and 2015. Fruits of a popular mango cultivar (‘Apple’) were harvested from commercial farms, selected for uniformity and separated into two batches of 100 fruits each. One batch was stored in the Coolbot(TM) cold room with the temperature set at 10±2°C. The second batch was stored at ambient room temperature (24-35°C). A random sample of five fruits was drawn from each storage condition every three days to evaluate ripening-related changes including, respiratory activity, peel/flesh color and firmness, total soluble solids, titratable acidity and weight loss. The shelf life of mango fruits which were stored in the Coolbot(TM) cold room was extended by 23 days compared to fruits under ambient room conditions. Cold storage significantly (p<0.05) reduced the respiratory activity of the stored fruits. At the end stage (day 12) ‘Apple’ mango fruits stored at ambient room conditions had a respiration rate of 53.9 mL kg-1 h-1 compared to 40.5 mL-1 kg-1 h-1 for cold-stored fruits. The lower respiration rate was mirrored positively in other ripening-related changes including peel/flesh firmness and colour confirming the efficacy of the Coolbot(TM) technology as a low-cost alternative to the expensive conventional cold rooms.