Papaya Biology, Cultivation, Production and Uses

154 Papaya

which they are made, temperature, in some cases humidity and the accumulation

and concentration of the gas and the thickness of the material (Thompson 2001). The

characteristics of the main types of plastic films with their potential uses in MAP are

summarised in Table 14.1.

Each carton must display the regulations with following details in unbroken, leg-

ible, permanent letters visible from the outside as described (Naturlande 2000).

In India, fruit harvesting is done by picking individual fruits by hand and not

allowed to fall on the ground. In the peak season, the fruit should be harvested

about thrice a week. During the rest of the season, the physiologically mature fruit

should be identified through regular scouting. Home growers may twist the fruit to

break the stem, but in commercial operations, it is preferable to uses a sharp knife

to cut the stem and trim it to level with the base of the fruit (Ram 2005). However,

to expedite harvesting of high fruits, growers furnish their pickers with a bamboo

pole with a rubber suction cup at the tip. With the cup held against the lower end of

the fruit, the pole is thrust upward to snap the stem and the falling fruit is caught by

Identification

Type of Product
‘Papaya’ Origin of the Product Commercial Characteristics
Name and address
of the exporter
and packer

When the contents are

not visible, mention

the name of the variety

Country of origin, and

optionally, national,

regional or local

description

Class, size (reference letter

or weight class), number of

fruits (optional) and net

weight (optional)

TABLE 14.1

Permeability Characteristics of Some Plastic Films with

Potential for Use as MAP of Fresh and Lightly Processed

Produce

Film Type

Transmission Rate

O 21 CO 2 a H 2 O Vapourb

Low-density polyethylene

(LDPE)

3900–13,000 7700–77,000 6–23.2

Medium-density

polyethylene (MDPE)

2600–8293 7700–38,750 8–15

High-density

polyethylene (HDPE)

52–4000 3900–10,000 4–10

Polypropylene (PP) 1300–6400 7700–21,000 4–10.8

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) 620–2248 42638.138 > 8

Source: Adapted from Schlimme, D. V, and M. L. Rooney, 1994, in Minimally

Processed Refrigerated Fruits and Vegetables (ed. R. C. Willey), New

York: Chapman and Hall, 135–179.

a Expressed in terms of cm (^3) m− (^2) day− (^1) at 1 atm.
b Expressed in terms of gm− (^2) day− (^1) at 37.8°C and 90% relative humidity.