Study of effects of pre-harvest paper bagging practice on quality of fruits of Deveji pear in climatic condition of Uzbekistan

抄録

The pear (Pyrus communis L.) cv. Deveji was introduced from Turkey to Uzbekistan and the variety is valuable with owning longer shelf life and well-appreciated flavour. Since the fruit matures at very high temperature and dry condition in Uzbekistan, water loss in fruits is one of the biggest problems in Deveji pear production in Uzbekistan. The water loss leads to a decrease in the assimilation of essential elements, resulted in the deterioration of fruit quality. Hence, it is important to develop cultivation techniques for retaining water in the fruits. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of different pre-harvest paper bagging practices on fruit quality.

The fruits of Deveji pear were covered with double layered white (penetrating 79% of light), orange (penetrating 26% of light) and black (penetrating 0% of light) papers during the growth period of fruits in 2019. The fruits dry matter and calcium concentration of fruit juice were analyzed after the harvest. The water content of uncovered fruits and the fruits covered with white, orange, black double layered papers were equal to 85.1% 85.1%, 85.2% and 86.8%, respectively. The calcium concentration of juice of uncovered fruits and the fruits covered with white, orange, black double layered papers are equal to 3.66, 3.84, 4.98 and 6.14 mg/dL, respectively. Black paper bag treatment significantly enhanced the water content and juice calcium concentration in fruits.

We could demonstrate the positive effect of pre-harvest paper bagging on maintaining high quality of Deveji pear. Especially, black paper is suggested to be the best bagging material.