Title: Correlation between physicochemical changes of seeded and seedless watermelons during postharvest storage

Authors: Maimunah Mohd Ali; Norhashila Hashim; Siti Khairunniza Bejo; Rosnah Shamsudin

Addresses: Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Food and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: The physicochemical changes in fruits can be influenced by postharvest handling during the storage period. The physicochemical properties (firmness, soluble solids content, pH, moisture content, and colour) were analysed over seven interval days to observe the changes between the seeded and seedless watermelons. The results indicated a decrease in the firmness, soluble solids content, and moisture content values, whereas the pH values increased for both seeded and seedless watermelons. The L*, b*, and chroma values increased whereas the a* value reduced. The hue angle value increased for both seeded and seedless watermelons. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the quality changes of both varieties and correlations among the physicochemical properties of watermelon samples. The findings indicated that PCA has the potential to characterise quality changes patterns in the seeded and seedless watermelons during storage and could establish the basis of major impact on the determination of fruit quality.

Keywords: colour; watermelon; quality; storage.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTI.2020.108745

International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 2020 Vol.7 No.1, pp.73 - 86

Received: 09 Apr 2019
Accepted: 23 Jan 2020
Published online: 30 Jul 2020 *

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