ISHS Acta Horticulturae 379: International Symposium on Quality of Fruit and Vegetables: Influence of Pre- and Post- Harvest Factors and Technology
THE EFFECT OF K LEVELS ON THE YIELD AND QUALITY OF FRUIT AND CRUDE PAPAIN FROM 3 PAPAYA CULTIVARS |
| Authors: | Sri S. Harjadi, F. Pribadi, S. Koswara |
| Keywords: | carica papaya, papain, K fertilizers, fruit quality |
| Abstract:
The trial was conducted in Tajur, Bogor (250 m above sea level where the soil is latosol) from January 1991 to March 1992, in a Randomized Block Design, in two replicates, of 3 plants each. Three levels of K2O (168 g, 336 g and 504 g per plant) were applied using KCl and K2Mg(SO4)2 for each level, and for the control, no K was applied. Some of the fruits were tapped, the latex collected, processed and the papain was evaluated in the laboratory. The quality of the tapped and untapped fruit was compared. Increasing the K level, significantly increased the total fruit weight (linear for KCl in all 3 cultivars, quadratic for K2Mg(SO4)2 on cvs Bangkok and Paris (maximum 96 kg/plant for Bangkok and 48 kg for Paris). For all cultivars, K2Mg(SO4)2 gave better results at all levels; and so was the case with the latex yield. In general, tapping the fruit only slightly decreased the total soluble solid of the fruit for all cultivars. For all cultivars, increasing the K level prolonged the shelf-life of the fruit by 2.7 d, 1.5 d, and 2.4 d, respectively, for Bangkok, Paris and Cibinong cultivar. On the other hand, the proteolytic activity of the crude papain was negatively influenced by the K level; the highest activity found was: 115, 92.8, 72.9 u/g per minute, respectively, for Bangkok, Paris and Cibinong cultivar. | |
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