Quality of Peach (Prunus persica L.) Genotypes Packed in LDPE Plastic Packaging under Different Storage Conditions

Peach Marketing in Ethiopia is complicated by postharvest losses like other horticulture produce. Although peach varieties have been introduced and studied for their productivity, their postharvest quality has not been evaluated at Holeta. Therefore, the experiment was done to assess influence of polyethylene plastic packaging and storage conditions on postharvest quality and storage life stability of peach genotypes. It was conducted at Holeta agricultural research center from January to February, 2018. Peach genotypes ‘Bonnigold, Early Grande, 90-19H and Topic Beauty’ packed in perforated and non-perforated low density polyethylene plastic (LDPE) and stored under two storage conditions i.e. ambient (6.4°C to 20.2 °C; 40%–71 % RH) and cold storage (-1°C to1 °C; 85–99 % RH). Genotypes had different response to packaging materials and storage conditions. Perforated bag packaging with cold storage was found more effective as compared to non-perforated and the control fruits in maintaining firmness. Non-perforated bag packaging’s combined with cold storage extended shelf life of peach fruits 10 – 20 days compared to other treatment combinations. The non-perforated plastic packaged fruits stored in the cold storage also maintained more TSS, AA, TA, TSS/TA, pH, marketability and specific gravity content and lowered weight loss and decay. Therefore, non-perforated plastic packaging with cold storage condition can be considered in maintaining its quality and extending the shelf life of peaches mainly for commercial producers, traders as well as research stations.