Segregation of corky tissue affected fruits of sapota by specific gravity method

Abstract

Sapota cv. Cricket Ball is a popular commercial variety in India which is plagued by the physiological disorder known as Corky Tissue (CT). This disorder adversely affects the eating quality of the fruit, making it unfit for consumption. This paper describes a technique of dipping sapota fruits in 12.5% salt solutions to segregate the CT affected fruits from healthy fruits based on differences in fruit specific gravity. The healthy fruits with a specific gravity of >1.0895 sank to the bottom, while the fruits affected by CT having a specific gravity of <1.0895 floated on the solution, thus ensuring complete separation of healthy and CT fruits in a single step process. The method is simple, rapid and cost effective and could be applied for culling out CT affected fruits at the field level by the growers and traders.