摘要：Ascorbic acid is eco-friendly, widely used anti-oxidant and supplemented in manufactured foods to preserve the products for long time. Persimmon fruits were treated with different concentrations of ascorbic acid(0%,1%,2%,and 3%).After drying the treated fruits were stored at room temperature (18-24C°and relative humidity 50-70%) for (0,10, 20,30 and 40 days) and their qualitative attributes were examined. Results revealed that ascorbic acid and storage duration alone and combined signifi-cantly affected the studied parameters. Data analysis showed that 2% ascorbic acid resulted in minimum weight loss(6.4%), maximum fruit firmness(1.9 kg cm-2), and minimum disease incidence (8.7%o)in persimmon fruits. However, maximum percent juice content(44.6%),total soluble solids(16.3 oBrix)and fruit volume(104 cm-3) were found in control (0%ascorbic acid treatment). Similarly, storage duration beyond 30 days decreased the quality attributes of persimmon and resulted in maximum weight loss (13.3%), juice content(56.4%o), total soluble solids (17.7"Brix), and disease incidence (22.5%).While the highest fruit firmness(2.6 kg cm-2),fruit volume (106.9 cm-3), titratable acidity(0.82 %),dry matter (2.3 g)and minimum pH (3.4)was noted in fresh fruits(0 days storage). Regarding interaction both ascorbic acid and storage duration significantly af-fected the fruit firmness and fruit juice pH. It is con-cluded that ascorbic acid at 2% might be useful and can sustain the post harvest quality of persimmon up to 30 days in storage.
