Assessment of post-harvest losses of mango (mangifera indica l.) in Morogoro region.
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Date
2011
Authors
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Publisher
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Abstract
High postharvest loss of up to 60 % due to improper postharvest handling practices during the supply chain has been reported in fresh mango fruits in Tanzania The study was conducted to determine mango fruit damages in different stages of the supply chain and develops suitable practices for reduction of postharvest losses during the wholesale market in Morogoro region. Based on farmers/traders practices, postharvest losses of mango fruits at harvesting, transportation and wholesale storage were evaluated. Moreover, an assessment was conducted to compare fruit postharvest losses when ‘tenga’ were loaded with or without separators in between for truck transportation and when fruit ‘tenga’ were stored under the sun, woven polypropylene and black net shades during the wholesale storage. Survey data were analysed using SPSS program based on cross tap method whereas data analysis to compare effect of separators between cartons on fruit losses based on Student t-test (P < 0.05). Data to compare effect of shades on fruit losses were subjected to analysis of variance and treatments mean separation was carried out based on Tukey test (P< 0.05). The total postharvest losses of mango *fruits encountered in all stages along the supply chain was 43.8 % with the main damage features being caused by fruit fly maggots, microbial decay and fruit softening each accounting for 8.65, 11.85 and 20.05 % of the total losses, respectively. Conversely, fruit storage under the shades significantly (P < 0.05) reduced fruit postharvest losses from 31.09% under the sun to 9.31 and 11.34 % under the woven polypropylene and black screen shades, respectively. It is recommended that traders should use separators between ‘tenga’ during long distance mango fruit transportation and store fresh mango fruits under polypropylene shade during the wholesale storage market in order to reduce postharvest losses. Municipal or district authorities are argued to construct cold storage facilities for storing fresh fruits.Furthermore, farmers should disinfect fruits against fruit fly eggs and decay micro organism as a strategy to reduce postharvest losses.
Description
Masters dissertation
Keywords
fresh mango, fruits, fruit damages, mango, supply chain, wholesale storage