ASSESSMENT OF POSTHARVEST HANDLING PRACTICES, LOSS AND QUALITY OF MANGO (Mangifera indica L.) ECOTYPES FRUIT IN HARARI REGION, ETHIOPIA

Abstract

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most widely cultivated and globally traded tropical and subtropical fruit trees in the world. It is one of the most popular, widely cultivated and commonly consumed fruit in Ethiopia. However, the postharvest loss of mango is high in Ethiopia in general and in Harari regional state, eastern Ethiopia in particular. Identified ecotypes with better quality for growers as well as for consumers are not available in Harari region, eastern Ethiopia. Therefore, this study was mainly initiated to assess postharvest handling practices, losses and quality of mango fruits in Harari regional state, eastern Ethiopia. Data were gathered through questionnaire, interviews, focus group discussions, observations, laboratory quality analysis and sensory evaluation. Most of farmers in the study area harvest their mango fruit at different level of maturity and at any time of the day when neccesary. Majority of farmers used harvesting methods like use of picking poles and shaking and they store their mango fruits in residential house. The kind of transportation systems are the use of equine, human labor and vehicles. They lack proper marketing sites and they use roadside in different parts of Harar city. The results of the assessment illustrated that the total percentage of mango postharvest losses in Harari region, eastern Ethiopia were about 46.77%. The losses were found to vary in the different postharvest handlings from harvesting to marketing. The average postharvest losses of mango fruit calculated from the respondents’ estimation were 19.72% due to harvest, 14.01% due to storage, 9.76% due to transportation whereas the least, 3.28% losses were due to marketing. Mechanical damage (39.6%), market problems like lack of proper marketing site and inappropriate marketing conditions (27.2%), pests (18.7%), physiological disorders (12.3%) and others including facility shortage and the perishable nature of the fruit (2.1%) contributed to the total postharvest loss of the fruit in the area. Physicochemical attributes: total soluble solids, titratable acidity, sugar to acid ratio, pH, ascorbic acid, total phenol content and physiological weight loss and sensory quality of local mango ecotypes harvested from four farmers were evaluated at four days interval during a storage period of 15 days at an ambient temperature of 25ºC and relative humidity of 65-70%. Amba Kurfa ecotypes was found to have significantly higher total soluble solid, sugar to acid ratio, pH, total phenol content, aroma, taste, flavor, overall acceptability and lowest physiological weight loss than the rest. Amba Bare was found to have significantly higher titratable acidity and weight loss than the rest while Amba Negus was found to have significantly higher ascorbic acid and texture than the rest. As a result, Amba Kurfa grown by Farmer 3 was relatively better in physicochemical and sensory quality whereas, Amba Bare grown by Farmer 4 was relatively the least in physicochemical and sensory quality.