ASSESSMENT ON POSTHARVEST HANDLING METHOD OF MANGO

There are many kinds of mango postharvest handling methods in East Java which were conducted by farmers, whole-salers and exporters, so that fruits quality were varied. Prime quality of mango will be received by the consumers if good and properly handling method of fruits is conducted. The aim of this assessment was to determine properly and profitable handling method of mango cvs. Arumanis and Manalagi so that prime quality of harvested fruits would be obtained. This assessment used a completely randomized design with 3 treatments, replicated 8 times. Treatments used were (1) harvesting was done before 10 a.m., fruits were packed using cartoon boxes with fruit cell, (2) harvesting was done at 10 a.m.to 4 p.m, fruits were washed with 75 ppm chlorine, dipped in hot water (53°C) for 5 minutes, packed in cartoon boxes with fruit cell and fruit net, (3) harvesting was done at 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., fruits were washed with 75 ppm chlorine, packed in cartoon boxes with fruit cell and fruit net. Capacity of all boxes were 10 kg each. Each treatment was consisted of 2 boxes. Observation were done on physical and chemical characteristics, the length of storage life in ambient temperature and cost of each postharvest handling method.

Results showed that there were no significantly different on physical and chemical characteristics between the three treatments, but treatment 2 showed longer storage life than the other treatments. After 9 days at ambient temperature storage, fruits of treatment 2 were damaged as much as 8% for Arumanis cultivar and 6% for Manalagi cultivar Treatment 3 gave 25% of damaged fruits for Arumanis cultivar and 39% for Manalagi cultivar, while for treatment 1, damaged fruits reached as much as 29% for Arumanis cultivar and 66% for Manalagi cultivar Treatments 2 and 3 gave good result on organoleptic evaluation, which were better than treatment 1. Cost of handling method using treatment 2 around of Rp. 4,170.-/box for Arumanis cultivar and Rp. 3,910.-/box for Manalagi cultivar, for treatment 3 were Rp. 3,890.-/box for Arumanis cultivar and Rp. 3,630.-/box for Manalagi cultivar, while for treatment 1 was Rp. 1,950.-/box for Arumanis cultivar and Rp. 1,950.-/box for Manalagi cultivar. Handling method using treatment 2 and 3 could increased fruits' value at about 2–15% than that using treatment 1.