Introduction:
Cucumis callosus (Rottl.) Cogn (Cucurbitaceae) is very commonthroughout the India and commonly known as “Kothimbda” in
Gujarat. It is one of minor vegetables of family cucurbltaceae whichcomprises of 120 genera and 825 species. Leaves are cordate, sub
orbicular, deeply palmately of 5-7 lobed. Flowers are yellow. Fruitsare smooth, Obovoid or Ellipsoid, Green variegated stripes generally
fruiting in August-November. Kothimbda is a highly cross pollinatedcrop and usually monoicous in nature preferring warm weather and
bright light for its better growth and development. However it can begrown in both summer and rainy season, but can’t tolerate cold injury
(Rastogi, 1998).
The mature fruits of Cucumis callosus (rottl.) Cogn (Kothimbda), adrought tolerant cucurbitaceous vegetable found growing abundantly
during rainy season in the arid and semiarid regions of North-WesternIndia, particularly in Gujarat and Rajasthan, are usually cooked with
various vegetable preparations. It is an ideal summer vegetable cropchiefly grown for its edible tender fruits, preferred as salad ingredient,
pickles, Desert fruit and as a cooked vegetable. The ripe fruits areeaten as such, while unripe fruits used as vegetable. Fruits are known
to contain vitamin C (Singh and Joshi, 2010).
Kothimbda powder obtained after drying the fruits is used assouring agent in combination with other spices to make spice premix
and mouth fresheners. Powder of Kothimbda with other spices iscommonly used for various therapeutic purposes to cure stomach
pain, nausea, vomiting and constipation. The dehydrated Kothimbdais coughicide, vermicide, cooling, diuretic and gastric stimulant.
Amongst all nutrients Ascorbic acid (Vitamin c) is most important fromthe processing point of view (Goyal and sharma, 2009).
The post-harvest loss of Kothimbda varies from 30 to 40 per cent dueto its perishable nature and glut during harvesting time, which also
reduces the market value of the fruit. Hence, dehydration is the onlysolution to overcome the problem of post-harvest losses as well as
to provide high returns to the growers along with the availability ofthe fruit during off season. The farmers producing Kothimbda of our
country are still using the traditional drying techniques for drying ofKothimbda and so far very little scientific research work has been
undertaken on standardization of drying and dehydration technologyespecially for Kothimbda.
Packaging also ensures that product arrives at the point ofdistribution in its optimum conditions. It increases their potential shelf
life and makes product more attractive to buyers. The effectivenessof different packaging materials will not be the same. Each material
will show various impacts on the quality and shelf life. So the changesin Ascorbic acid in Kothimbda with the use of different available
packaging materials should be studied. The present study has beentaken with the objectives to study effect packaging material on
ascorbic acid retention during storage of kothimbda powder (cucumiscallosus)
Materials and methods:
For this experimentation mature, the sound and uniformly maturedfruits without any damage were selected for the experiment and
washed in tap water. The washed and shade dried Kothimbda fruitswere sliced into 3 mm, 5 mm and 7 mm thickness by using stainless
steel knife. To prevent bacterial/mold infection, knifes were frequentlydipped into potassium permanganate solution (5%) for 2 minutes
before reusing for slicing. The slices of Kothimbda Slices were uniformlyspread in single layer in tray for dehydration. The dried Kothimbda
slices were grinded into the desired particles sizes by the Bajaj makegrinder of 600W and 1800 rpm. The powder of dried Kothimbda slices
obtained under different was sieved with the help of IS Sieves, havingopenings of size (16 mesh) to obtained the of uniform desired particle
size of 16 mesh.
The packaging of Kothimbda powder of each treatment under studywas done in glass bottles, Polyethylene pouches of 300 μ thickness
and in Aluminum coated P.P. bags. All the containers were stored fora period of 3 months at room temperature. Temperature and relative
humidity during the storage period was varying between 7.4 to 36.5 0Cand 13 to 95 % respectively. The observations in terms of Ascorbic
Acidcontent were recorded at an interval of 15 days besides initially duringstorage. To estimate ascorbic acid content, the following procedure
as reported by Sadasivam and Manikam (1992) will be followed.
Results and disscusion:
Table 1: : Effect of different Packaging Materials on Ascorbic acid content (mg/100g) of Kothimbda fruit powder during storage.
The dried Kothimbda fresh powder was biochemically analysed interms of ascorbic acid content and observations are presented in
Table. The powder was packed in three types of container i.e. Glassbottle, HDPE bag and Aluminum Coated P.P. bag and stored at room
temperature for 90 days. The powder of each container was assessedfor ascorbic acid content at 15 days interval. The results obtained are
presented in Table. From results it was observed that the ascorbic acidcontent of the stored Kothimbda fruit powder was decreasing with
the increase in storage period when stored at room temperature. Theascorbic acid content of the sample packed in Glass bottle, HDPE bag
and Aluminum Coated P.P. bag was varying from 39.30 to 22.50, 39.30to 20.14 and 39.30 to 19.30 mg/100g during 90 days of storage period
at room temperature respectively. From these observations it wasasserted that the loss in ascorbic acid during storage was minimum
in the powder packed in Glass bottle followed by HDPE bag andAluminum Coated P.P. bag (Table).
Figure 1: Effect of Packaging Materials on Ascorbic acid content of Kothimbda slice powder.
The statistical analysed data revealed that the Slice Thickness wasgiving highly significant results for the ascorbic acid content
The Kothimbda powder packed in Glass bottle (p1) showing highestvalue of ascorbic acid content retention after 90 days of storage
followed by powder packed in HDPE bag (p2) and powder packed inAluminum Coated P.P. bag (p3). Packaging Materials (p1) was giving
highly significant results for the ascorbic acid content retention inmg/100g during 15 days, 30 days and 90days. It also gave significant
result for 45 days of storage, while for the other stages of storageperiod found non-significant. The Glass bottles provide high barrier
that preserved most of the antioxidants and functional properties ofthe powder as compared to HDPE bag and Aluminum Coated P.P. bag
resulted in to less loss in Ascorbic acid during storage.Similar results were reported by Burdurlu et al. (2006) in storage of
citrus juice concentrates, Babarinde and Fabunmi (2009) for effectivepackaging materials to retain quality parameters and Seevaratnam et
el. (2012).
Conclusion:
Keeping in view all the studied parameters under room temperaturestorage it was concluded that, To minimize the loss in ascorbic acid
content of Kothimbda powder (16 Mesh) during storage for 90 days atroom temperature, it should be packed in Glass bottle.
