Harvesting, Postharvest Handling and the Physiochemical Changes During Storage of Guavas in Two Counties of Kenya

Abstract

The guava (Psidium guajava) fruit is highly nutritious and commonly found in almost all ecological regions in Kenya, however, its highly perishable and prone to postharvest losses. The fruit suffers huge losses which are attributed to the low consumption and marketability as it is neglected by farmers and consumers. Standard postharvest handling, storage and marketing are not practiced and most of it is left to rot in the farm. The current findings indicate that guava harvesting practices are substandard and skin colour was the main maturity index in Kitui and Taita Taveta, 98.6% and 92.1% respectively. There was no organized storage and packaging of guavas in Kitui and Taita Taveta as farmers harvested just enough for household consumption hence no bulk handling of the fruit. A cluster analysis of hygiene knowledge of farmers revealed that Kitui farmers had higher knowledge scores (71.9%) as compared to those from Taita Taveta (49.8%). Findings indicate that there is lack of postharvest handling practices in Kitui and Taita Taveta which is a contributing factor to the huge guava losses incurred in Kenya. The influence of storage conditions on the physicochemical changes of guava during storage was evaluated on day 0, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 11 by analysing changes in moisture, weight, beta carotene, ascorbic acid, total soluble solids, total titratable acidity and pH as influenced by storage factors specifically washing, modified atmosphere packaging and temperature. Temperature of storage significantly (p<0.05) accelerated the rate of physicochemical changes of the net bags as compared to modified atmosphere. Fruits stored at 20-25℃ and 28-30℃ recorded the higher change in weight loss, moisture content, vitamin C and beta carotene as compared to those at 8-10℃. The study concluded that storage at 8-10℃ afforded the fruits a shelf life of 11 days. Modified atmosphere packages best lowered the rate of deterioration based on the changes in ascorbic acid, beta carotene. Guava shelf life can be extended Best storage is obtained by storing in modified atmosphere packaging at 8-10℃.