EFFECT OF CHITOSAN AND CALCIUM NANO- PARTICLES ON QUALITY AND STORABILITY OF STRAWBERRY FRUITS

Abstract

This study was conducted in the vicinity of both a private farm located at Tokh district, Qalubia Governorate, Egypt and the storage rooms of Handling of Vegetable Crops Dept., Hort., Res. Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt. The preparation and characterization of chitosan and calcium nanoparticles were carried out in Nanotechnology and Advanced Material Central Lab., Agriculture Research Canter, during the two successive winter seasons of 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. Fresh strawberry transplants “festival cultivar” were used.

Planting dates were on September 16th and 19th in the first and second growing seasons, respectively. Strawberry fruits were harvested at ¾ color stage with any defect to determine the quality properties and storability at 0 ºC and 95% RH for 20 days plus 2 days at 10 ºC and 85% RH (shelf life), for the following experiments.

First experiment: Effect of foliar application with chitosan nanoparticles and bulk chitosan on quality and storability of strawberry fruits.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of foliar application with chitosan nanoparticles and chitosan bulk on preserving the quality parameters and storability of strawberry fruits.

The experiment contained five treatments which were untreated plants, bulk chitosan or nano-chitosan at 125, 250 or 500 ppm. Strawberry plants were sprayed one time at 3 days before harvesting as edi