Effect of Modified Atmosphere Packaging to Post-Storage Quality of White Flesh Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose)

Dragon fruits (Hylocereus undatus (Haw.) Britton & Rose) under selected suitable Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) with 50.8µm polyethylene plastic film) and control samples (dragon fruits without MAP) were exposed to ambient condition after being stored for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 days at 5°C and 10°C temperature, respectively. To validate if the selected MAP has significant effect in reducing the quality degradation rate of the dragon fruits during post-storage condition, different physico-chemical properties were measured. Data obtained for control samples were only from 5 and 10 days since samples were already considered inedible (with at least 80% peel decay) for days 15, 20, 25, and 30. On the other hand, data for days 5, 10, 15 and 20 were obtained for MAP samples. Highest firmness degradation of 6% was observed for control samples stored at 10°C when compared to day 0. In terms of moisture content (MC), MAP samples obtained the lowest degradation rates (comparing day 5 and day 10 samples) with at most 1.36% decrease in flesh MC and 1.7% decrease in moisture content peel MC. Change in the scale color (from green to yellow) of MAP samples was not drastic and very minimal as compared to controlled samples that have 21-24 difference from the hue value of day 0 sample. On the other hand, titratable acidity and total soluble solid of MAP samples were still acceptable with no significant changes all throughout the storage and post-storage period