Essay On Fruit Ripening

Fruits are an essential and nutritionally indispensable part of human diet. Due to easy access and high nutrition value, consumption of fruit increases day by day. 1-4 Despite this fact, short ripening period reduces its monetary value. Ripening is a physiological event through which fruit attains its desirable color, flavor and quality. During the ripning process fruit underwent through sequence of physical and biochemical changes and these changes are at hormonal, respiratory and cellular level. This process is irreversible, highly synchronized and genetically planned. Ripening process reduces acid level, increases sweetness and makes fruit soft, edible and nutritious.2,5 Generally fruits ripen on trees but in recent days various artificial methods of fruit ripening has been used to hasten the ripening process. This is because ripe fruits are not suitable to carry and distribute as they get rotten. The different chemicals used for artificial ripining includes carbide, acetylene, ethylene, propylene, ethrel (2-chloroethyl phosphonic acid), glycol, ethanol, etc.6-7

In India, most climacteric fruits like mango, papaya, banana, etc are ripened with industrial grade calcium carbide. This is because of its’ low cost and easy availability in local market.6 Calcium Carbide is a colorless chemical with garlic like odour. Calcium carbide absorbs water and produces acetylene gas (also known as ‘carbide gas’) which is an analogue to ethylene and it is responsible for accelerating the ripening process. Carbide gas produces same effect as the natural hormone “ethylene” does,

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of artificial ripening (calcium carbide) on biochemical constituents of