POST HARVEST PRACTICES OF POMEGRANATE

Crop and grade regulation

        Of these, 5–6% are of ‘A’ grade and 20–25% of ‘B’ grade, whereas remaining ones belong to ‘C’ and ‘D’ grades, and cracked fruits. Though it is practically impossible to get all ‘A’ grade fruits, one can improve average grade by crop regulation. After the fruit set, do not allow, fruits to develop in clusters. Keep only solitary fruits. After getting set of fruits of desired numbers as per size of tree, remove all the flowers coming thereafter. In pomegranate it is not only the number of fruits/tree but also the fruit size which influence the net returns. About 60 fruits/tree is optimum crop load for pomegranate Ganesh.

Grading

        Pomegranate fruits should be graded on the basis of their weight, size and external (rind) colour. The grades are:

Super-sized: Fruits having good, attractive bright red colour weighing more than 750g each and without any spot on the skin.

King-sized: Fruit free from spots, having an attractive red colour and weighing 500–750g.

Queen-sized: Fruits between 400 and 500g, having bright red colour and free from spots.

Prince-sized: fully ripe fruits weighing between 300 and 400g with red colour.

          Besides, pomegranates are also graded into 2 grades—12-A and 12-B. The fruits weighing between 250 and 300g with some spots belong to 12-B grade. The fruits of 12-A grade are generally preferred in southern and northern India.

Packing and storage

         The size of packages pomegranate changes according to their grade. Corrugated fibre-board boxes are used for packaging since they are light in weight, cause less or no damage to fruits, are easy to handle.

         In a single box, 4–5 queen-sized fruits, 12 prince-sized and some of 12–A and 12–B grades may be packed. The white-coloured boxes having 5 plies are generally used for export purpose, whereas red-coloured ones having 3 plies are used for domestic markets. The red-coloured boxes are cheaper than white-coloured ones. The size of super-sized, queen-sized, prince-sized, 12–A and 12–B grades are 13" × 9" × 4", 15" × 11" × 4" and 14" × 10" × 4" respectively. The cut pieces of waste paper are generally used as cushioning material. The graded fruits are placed on cushioning material followed by an attractive red-coloured paper on the boxes. The safe temperature for cold storage up to 2 months or 10 weeks is 5°C. Longer storage should be at 10°C and relative humidity of 95% to avoid chilling injury and weight loss.