~ 419 ~ International Journal of Chemical Studies 2017; 5(4): 419-424 P-ISSN: 2349–8528 E-ISSN: 2321–4902 IJCS 2017; 5(4): 419-424 © 2017 JEZS Received: 15-05-2017 Accepted: 14-06-2017 Nitin Panwar Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Jitendra Kumar Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Pradumn Narain Rai Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Daya Shankar Mishra Central Horticultural Experiment Station (Indian Council of Agricultural Research- Central Institute for Arid Horticulture), Vejalpur, Godhra, Gujarat, India Jitendra Chandra Chandola Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Correspondence Jitendra Kumar Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Effect of pre-harvest foliar sprays of different chemicals on fruit quality and shelf life of litchi fruits Nitin Panwar, Jitendra Kumar, Pradumn Narain Rai, Daya Shankar Mishra and Jitendra Chandra Chandola Abstract Present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different chemicals on fruit quality and shelf life of litchi fruits. Four chemicals were applied viz., calcium nitrate, calcium chloride, boric acid, salicylic acid and humic acid on litchi plants. Physiological loss in weight of fruits (9.36%) was minimum with Salicylic acid (50 µ mol l -1 ). Higher total soluble solids (20.89 °Brix) were recorded with Calcium nitrate (0.5%). Minimum treatable acidity (0.29%) was recorded in Calcium nitrate (0.5%) and humic acid (0.4%). TSS: Acid ratio (71.56) was maximum with humic acid (0.4%). Browning index (4.97) was minimum with Calcium chloride (0.5%). Spoilage percentage (20.32%) was minimum with Calcium chloride (0.5%). Keywords: Litchi, fruit quality, shelf life, spoilage percentage, browning index Introduction Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) is an important evergreen, subtropical fruit tree native to southern China. It belongs to family Sapindaceace. It was introduced to India at the end of the 17 th century [19] . Litchi is a delicious fruit of commercial importance and has high demand as table fruit and processed products. Litchi fruit is highly nutritious. It contains 83.6 g moisture, 0.7 g protein, 0.1 g fat, 15.0 g carbohydrates, 4.0 mg calcium, 32.0 mg phosphorus, 0.7 mg iron, 0.02 mg thiamine, 0.07 mg riboflavin, 1.1 mg niacin, 15 mg ascorbic acid and traces of carotene [5] . It has a strong commercial value in international markets for its bright red skin and sweet, juicy and crisp aril [11] . India is the second largest producer of litchi in the world next after China. Presently in India litchi is cultivated on an area of about 84 thousand hectares with a total production of 585 thousand metric tons [1] . In India, it is mainly grown in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand. Litchi being a non-climacteric fruit, does not improve in quality after harvesting, but has to ripen on the tree [3] . Therefore, fruits are harvested ripen and should reach to the ultimate consumers immediately. To extend the availability of fruits storage life of the fruits has to be increased. Pericarp browning, desiccation, loss of quality, post-harvest decays and micro cracking are major constraints affecting commercial quality during storage and transportation [25, 16] . Litchi undergoes deteriorative changes immediately after harvest which makes it otherwise highly potential commercial crop and thus lose its marketability especially in the global context. Rapid desiccation of fruits leads to browning of pericarp which brings about a decline in the consumer’s appeal and acceptability although the nutritive quality and taste is still retained. Pre-harvest application of various chemicals have been reported to enhance the shelf life of fruits by reducing physiological loss in weight, decay losses during storage [10, 15] and fruit cracking [23] . Calcium, an essential nutrient maintains the cell wall integrity and is found to inhibit to some extent the senescence of litchi fruits. Pre-harvest treatment of calcium helped in maintenance of fruit quality [24, 4] . The beneficial effects of boron as pre-harvest sprays have been reported to govern several physiological and biochemical plant processes on litchi fruits [6]. calcium is involved in cracking resistance in litchi fruit because trees with lower cracking incidence have higher calcium levels, while, a low exchange able calcium in plants results in high cracking incidence [19] . The present study was under taken to evaluate the influence of plant growth regulators and mineral nutrients on yield and physico-chemical characteristics of litchi CV.