Post-harvest conservation of Passiflora alata fruits under ambient and refrigerated condition

Brazil is the world's largest producer of passion fruit, a perishable fruit with reduced post-harvest shelf life, which limits its commercialization. For sweet passion fruit, Passiflora alata, there is little information about its postharvest conservation and shelf life under different storage conditions. Thus, the objective of the present study was to determine the post-harvest conservation of P. alata fruits packed on styrofoam trays rapped with 10 mu m PVC film and HDPE 30 mu m thick, coated with 18% carnauba wax and without any packaging; stored under ambient conditions (25 degrees C and 70% relative humidity) and refrigerated (10 degrees C and 90% relative humidity) for 14 days. The best results were obtained with P. alata fruits packaged on styrofoam trays rapped with 10 mu m PVC flexible film and kept under refrigeration in a cold room at a temperature of 10 degrees C and relative humidity between 85% and 90% for a period of 10 to 14 days. Fruits of P. alata, for commercialization in natura, kept under ambient conditions, should not be packaged and have a shelf life of up to seven days.