Post Harvest Management of Horticultural Crops

Wrapping

Covering the fruits after harvest with any material in order to improve its post harvest life is known as wrapping. The materials commonly employed as wrappers are old news paper, tissue paper, waxed paper, shrink film, poly film, Pliofilm, Cellophane paper, aluminium foils and alkathene paper etc.
Wrapping has the following advantages

1. It minimizes shrivelling by the loss of moisture
2. It protects against the spread of diseases from one to the other
3. It reduces bruises
4. It reduces damage during transport or in storage
5. It makes the fruit more attractive/appearance

Care must be taken to see that wrap is not too impervious to the passage of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Eg. Wrapping papaya, gourds with news paper/spongy plastic mesh



Fig. Wrapping individual fruits in old news paper


Vacuum packaging
The vacuum packaging referred to the removal of all air within the package without deliberate replacement with another gas. It widely used for nuts and grains.