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Harvest, post-harvest and packing

 

Harvest

When the skin is turning from dark green to light green forming yellow streaks which in the long run will be yellow lines from the top of fruit to the pedicel, it is time to harvest fruits. After harvesting, papaya continues its ripening. That is why it is important that according to the market requirements, papaya is harvested depending on its degree of ripening; green, with either one or two lines, or 3-5 lines.

Fruits should be picked 2 or 3 times a week and it must be done preferably during cool temperature hours not to keep fruits hot.

The harvest must be done very carefully by wearing gloves. It is important not to damage the plant or fruit when the pedicel is removed because bruising can be an entrance for diseases. All papayas, which are damaged by insects, birds or diseases, will be strongly punished by the market. However, fruits having certain damages may be accepted, but these damages should not exceed 5% of fruit.

At harvest, there are some factors to consider such as:

• The pedicel should be cut long enough to permit it is cut again uniformly between 5 to 10 mm.
• The knife must be disinfected to avoid disease transmitions from one plant to another one.

Paper-wrapped fruits must be transported to packing in shallow containers or in plastic boxes. In both cases, boxes or containers must be covered by any oilskin or other material to protect papayas.

The principal pre-harvest diseases are:

Rotting by anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, fungi)

• Rotting by Phytophthora palmivora
• Dry fruit Rotting by Fusarium solani
  

 

Post-harvest

Papaya fruit is oversensitive to post-harvest management. If there are no precautions, there may be high economic and production losses.

There are two big problems for fruits during post-harvest:

1.- Post-harvest diseases

When trading the fruit, these diseases can reduce the production. These diseases are a result of a lack of phyto-sanitary controls (during growing) and faulty management of storage.

These are the principal post-harvest diseases:

 

• Spots by Alternaria sp
• Fruit skin and side rotting by Mycosphaerella sp
• Soft rot by Rhizopus stolonifer
• Black leafspot by Cercospora papayae
• Internal blight by Cladosporium sp.
• Fruit spot by Stemphylium lycopersici
• Fruit spot by Guignardia citricarpa
• Wet fruit rot by Phomopsis sp.
• Internal yellowing by Enterobacter cloacae
• Purple stain by Erwinia herbicola

In order to minimize these problems, it is recommended to pass fruits through a treatment of washing and disinfecting which consists of three containers:

1.- A container having water with soap or water with 1% chlorine, in which fruits are cleaned by using a sponge.

2.- A container having water to rinse

3.- A container having 1 kilogram of Manzate ?(Mancozeb 80%) + 500 grams of Tecto ? (Thiabendazole 60%) per 200 liters of water.

 

2. Damage to fruit

Despite its thickness, papaya skin is very fragile and can be damaged when it is dropped, when it is squeezed between the fruit and its pedicels, when containers are overloaded, etc. so there may be bruises, spots, scars etc.

In order to eliminate these problems, there are some measures to take:

• All material in contact with fruits must be covered with plastic coating or any other material to cushion blows.
• Only one papaya layer is placed, never two or three layers.
• Each fruit must be individually wrapped by paper in such a way of forming a cushion in the basal part to soften blows.
• Pedicels must be removed so that papayas do not damage or scratch each other.
• Fruit management staff must be trained continually to manage fruits appropriately.
  

Packing

Papayas must be placed in cardboard crates with the vertical part downwards to the bottom of the crate in which paper is placed previously. Empty spaces are stuffed with paper to keep fruits steady. It is also important to place in the same crate, fruits having uniformity in size, ripening and shape.

After packing, papayas must not remain storaged more than 12 hours, if necessary, they should be located in cold-storage chambers. In the chamber, temperatures must not be below 10° because excessive refrigeration will cause damages and hinder ripening.

To transport papayas long distances, cold-storage chamber transportation is needed.

 

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