Status on post harvest practices of mango fruits in Karnataka.
Ranganna B., Munishamanna K. B., Kammar C.
Author Affiliation: Post Harvest Technology Scheme, UAS, Bangalore - 560 065, India.
Mysore Journal of Agricultural Sciences 43 : 282-286
Abstract : Post harvest management of mango fruits is an important aspect with respect to maintaining the quality of fruits as well as to reduce the losses during harvesting, grading, packaging, transportation, storage, ripening, etc. to understand the post harvest management scenario in Karnataka, a study was conducted through personal interviews with the selected mango growers. The maturity indices for harvesting mango are mainly based on size and colour of the fruit. Majority of the farmers (98%) are unaware of the availability of improved harvesting devices. About 71.11 per cent of the orchards have employed less than 5 labours for harvesting of mango fruits. Mango fruits are classified into 2-3 grades at orchard and market levels. Majority of growers (67.71%) engaged less than 5 labours for grading. Generally, growers and traders do not follow any packaging for mango fruits. However, very small percentage of growers (6-7%) do follow packaging for the important high value varieties like Alphanso, Baneshan and Dasheri and small percentage of farmers used paddy straw and paper as a cushioning material in the packages to prevent damages during transportation. The mode of transportation of fruits is mainly by tempo (33.33%) followed by trucks (25%) and tractor (26.67%). A large number of growers (46.67%) travel a distance of less than 50 km for transporting of fruits from their orchards to markets.