Physico-Chemical Changes of Kujithekera (Garcinia cowa Roxb.) Fruit during Storage

Kujithekera (Garcinia cowa Roxb), commonly known as Cowa is a sub-tropical minor fruit grows well in Assam. Fruits are juicy having sub-acid taste and suitable for preparation of jam and pickles, sundried slices given in dysentery as medicine. An attempt was made to understand the changes in physico-chemical qualites of Kujithekera fruit during storage at ambient temperature (Mean temp 29.8°C, Mean RH 79.6%) for 6 days at an interval of two days. The physico-chemical changes of the fruit during storage using five different treatments were studied. There was significant increase in physiological loss in weight with advancement of storage period. The bio-chemical qualities of the treated fruits like TSS, crude protein, fat, ash were found to decrease significantly with the advancement of storage period. The fruits treated with 1 per cent wax emulsion retained the highest TSS, both in pulp and peel on 6 days after storage. The fruit pulp qualities like crude protein, fat, ash, total phenl were almost same in wax coated fruits and CaCl₂ treated fruits on 6 days after storage.