EFFECT OF I)RE- AND POST -HARVEST TREATMENTS ON INPROVING AND MAINTAINING CANTALOUPE POST- HARVEST QUALITY

Abstract

The present study_was aimed to improve cantaloupe fruit yield and quality.throught fertilization concerning calcium and potassium nutrients. It also tended to maintain this quality during storage life of fruits depending on some post-harvest treatments. This study was carried out into two trials in the two successful seasons of 1997/98 and 1998/99. The first one is in the field where calcium and potassium were foliarly sprayed to cantaloupe plants at stages of two and six true leaves foreach element, respectively, every other week to fruit maturity stage. In this triale increasing calcium or potassium concentration in the foliar solution resulted in increment of plant growth parameters such as plant length, fresh and dry weight, 4111 leaf from apix and its area and chlorophyll content, stem diameter and leaves and shoots number. Also both calcium and potassium increased yield and its quality such as fruit number/plant, fruit weight, yield/plot or per feddan and marketable yield as well as quality, i.e., soluble solids, total sugar, titratable acidity and L-ascorbic acid contents. The second trial was conducted on fruits obtained from the best treatment of first trial. This treatment was the combined of second concentration of both calcium and potassium (220 ppmCa & no ppmK) in addition to the treatments of spraing calcium and potassium at 220ppm and 720ppm, respectively, and control treatment. At harvest, the fiuits of each chosen treatments after had been harvested at half slipe stage, .were divided into two halves, first one was packed in cartons without polyethylene lining and the second one was packed in polyethylene lined-