Abstract:
Pre- and postharvest factors play an important role in pineapple juice quality. In this
study, the impact of maturity stage (unmatured, matured and overmatured), time of
harvest (morning, afternoon and evening) and storage temperature (ambient and
refrigeration) of fruits on pineapple juice quality were assessed using a completely
randomized design with three replications. There was a significant increase in TSS
(from 14 oB to 16 oB), total antioxidant content (139.25mg/kg - 220.95 mg/kg), total
phenol content (from 50.02 mg/l to 63.53mg/l) and total flavonoids (from 7.68 mg/l
to 9.61 mg/l) for overmatured fruits harvested in the morning and stored in the
ambient before processing into juice. There was a significant difference between
the interactions of maturity stage, time of harvest and storage temperature of fruits
on the nutritional composition of pineapple juice. Sensory attributes were also
evaluated on the maturity stage, harvest time and storage condition. For maturity
stage, juice extracted from the overmatured pineapple fruits had higher overall
acceptability compared to the others. Harvesting pineapple in the morning followed
by ambient storage condition, resulted in pineapple juice with higher colour, taste
and after taste score. Among the treatments, juice from overmatured pineapple fruit
harvested in the morning and stored in ambient condition was considered to be more
appealing to the panelists. The total plate count of the juice produced from all
treatments ranged from 0 to 4.164 log CFU/ml, while yeast and mould count ranged
from 1.903 to 4.227 log CFU/ml which were all below the microbial limit for juice.
From this study juice extracted from overmatured fruits harvested in the morning
has rich nutrient with good consumer preference.
