Impact of Humic Acid and some Pre and Post-Harvest Treatments in Improving Storage Behaviour of Hot Pepper Fruits (Capsicum annuum L.) Hybrid Barbarian F1

Abstract

The experiment was carried out during the 2020-2022 growing seasons in one of the unheated greenhouses at Dhi Qar University, south of Iraq, in order to investigate the impact of adding humic acid, pre and post-harvest treatments and their interaction in the storage behavior of hot pepper fruits hybrid Barbarian F1. Factorial experiment consisted of three factors which were the possible combinations of three concentrations of humic acid 0, 1, 2 g. l−1 and five pre and post-harvest treatments which were aqueous extract of jujube leaves at a concentration of (75) g. l−1, aqueous extract of pomegranate peels at a concentration of 5 ml. l−1, calcium at a concentration of 1.5 ml. l−1, arginine acid at a concentration of 200 mg. l−1 in addition to control treatment (distilled water only). Fruits packed into polyethylene bags of 1 kg capacity containing 8 holes of 5 mm diameter and stored at a temperature of 10 ° C in a refrigerated incubator for two weeks. The experiment was designed out according to C.R.D design with three replicates. The results were analyzed by the analysis of variance and mean values were compared using the Revised Least Important Difference Test at 0.05 probability. Results showed that the fruits treated with humic acid at a concentration of 1 and 2 g.l−1 was superior to control in reducing the percentage of decay and retaining the highest content of vitamin C, total soluble solids, capsaicin and phenolic substances. As for the effect of the type of treatments, the fruits treated with calcium recorded the lowest percentage of decay compared to the rest of the treatments in both seasons. The soaking method outperformed compared to spraying one in retaining fruits content of vitamin C. the most interactions among studied factors were significant in their effect on the most parameters.