Effect of waxing on shelf life and quality of apple

Abstract

Apple is the most important fruit of Himalayan region. It is a perishable fruit and postharvest losses in the terms of quality and quantity occur at various stages of fruit handling right from harvesting, till the fruits reach the consumer and are consumed. These losses occur due to lack of proper infrastructural facilities like sorting and grading lines, packing of the harvested produce using modern techniques, non- availability of cold stores and lack of cool chain during transport and storage. Postharvest losses can be minimized by harvesting the fruits at an optimum maturity, pre- cooling of fruits prior to storage, sorting, grading and proper packing of the fruits, checking the rate of transpiration,