摘要：Persimmon fruit is abundantly found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Fresh persimmons were pre-treated and dehydrated to minimize their post-harvest losses. For this purpose, the effect of antioxidant agents (citric acid, potassium metabisulfite and ascorbic acid) was studied on the overall quality of sun-dried persimmon fruits. The treatments were T_0 (control), T_1 (5% citric acid), T_2 (3% potassium metabisulfite) and T_3 (2% ascorbic acid). The peeled persimmon fruits were treated for 5min with these preservatives and dried under sun up to 15-16% moisture. The effect of these treatments on microbial, physicochemical and sensory were analysed at interval of 30 days for the period of 120 days. Results indicated that a significant increase (P≤0.05) was observed in total soluble solid (TSS) while significant decrease (P≤0.05) was examined in moisture content, water activity, ascorbic acid, pH, total phenolics, mineral content and weight loss. The mean score of judges showed a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in colour, flavour and texture. It could be concluded from this research that 3% potassium metabisulfite (T_2) comparatively retained the overall quality of dried persimmon fruit during storage.
