Post-harvest conservation of mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana): Influence of fruit harvest stage and effectiveness of some practical conservation treatments

ABSTRACT Post-harvest losses caused by poor fruit storage can in some cases reach more than 80% of the crop. For the mangosteen crop, these losses are all the more important as they constitute a major problem. In Côte d’Ivoire, the few mangosteen preservation techniques have been developed mainly by traders and are based on limiting exchanges with the surrounding environment. However, these techniques are not very effective because they only preserve the fruit for a few days. In order to address this issue, the present study aims to evaluate the influence of the harvesting stage and the effectiveness of preservation treatments on the storage time and the evolution of several physical and biochemical parameters of the mangosteen. To this end, mangosteens harvested at two different stages of maturity were subjected to different preservation treatments (refrigeration, bagging, oil coating and blanching). The results showed that the storage time of the mangosteen was significantly longer with fruit harvested at the orange-red stage. Also, two of the four storage treatments evaluated, namely refrigeration and bagging, significantly extended the shelf life of the mangosteen (+15 and+6 days respectively with these treatments). In contrast to these treatments, blanching caused a reduction in fruit storage time.