CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

The postharvest losses caused loss to the supply chain. The shorter shelf life of fresh product prevent the product from reaching the best quality for export purposes. Mechanical damage due to the physical management such as bruising reduce the values. The yellow skin mango especially seems to be so obvious with any damage and that is the purpose of having this study. By reducing the physical modification of mango through coating, the mango shelf life can be extend more longer to meet the market demand with minimum losses. The ‘Harum Manis’ type is most popular with sweet aromatic smell of mellow fibers has been exported to Japan due to the increasing demand because of their thick and
Mangifera indica L. or known as mango is a tropical fruits in Malaysia that can be divided into seasonal or comes in all year round. It is native to southern Asia especially Burma and eastern India.Mango is the climacteric fruit that is available at roadside stall and flea market when the season come (Seri Intan Mokhtar et al., 2014). Mangifera indica L. from family of Anacardeaceae also known as mango or called as mangga in Malaysia, manguier in French, mangoro in Africa and manja in Deutch (Habib Ahmed Khan, 2007). Two races of mango including from Philippines and southeast Asia where Philippines can expose to moisture and vice versa for Indian type which prefer dry condition (CRFG, 1996). Normal environment without frost is preferable by mango for the productive growth.
Based on Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) the weight determine the size of mango graded by A, B and C where ‘Harum Manis’ is the popular cultivar out of 500 varieties come from Perlis, Malaysia that fruiting season last only 2 months ( Mohd Firdaus Mokhtar, 2014) from April to June (MBG, 2015). Another famous known cultivars including Golek (MA 162), Masmuda (MA 204), Chok Anan (MA 224), Apple mango (MA 194) and Harum Manis (MA 128) (Norlia Ynus,
The chitosan solutions will be prepared by dissolving 1.0% (w/v) of chitosan in 0.5% (v/v) acetic acid. 1 g of chitosan will be dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water with 0.5 ml acetic acid. The pH of the solution will be adjusted to pH 5.0 with 0.1M NaOH. After that, 5 %, 10 % and 15 % of AG solutions will be prepared in purified water prior to the incorporation with the chitosan coatings by layer-by layer coating through dipping method. Then, the conducive concentrations of chitosan coating (1.0% chitosan acetate) will be combined with a sequence of AG concentrations (5 %, 10 % and 15 % ) to coat the mangoes. These coating formulations resulted in a several sets of treatments: (a) Control (uncoated mangoes); (b) 1.0% chitosan acetate + 5% Arabic gum; (c) 1.0% chitosan acetate + 10% Arabic gum; and (d) 1.0% chitosan acetate + 15% Arabic gum. Fruits were separated into 9 fruits for each treatment. Three replicates will be