Amelioration of Breadfruit Shelf‐Life and Quality by Cling and Shrink Film as Modified Atmospheric Packaging

ABSTRACT Breadfruit is an underutilised fruit that contains a copious amount of complex carbohydrates, essential amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine), and minerals while being low in fat. It can serve as a potential source of nutrition and be added as a food source to achieve global nutritional security, as outlined by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources. In India, breadfruit is not widely cultivated but is grown as a kitchen garden tree in its natural growing areas. Due to its highly perishable nature, the fruit has only 2 to 3 days of shelf‐life with miniscule postharvest management protocols. The primary goal of this research was to assess the impact of shrink and cling film wrapping on individual fruit and/or CFB on the physicochemical aspects and shelf‐life extension of breadfruit. The results revealed that both the packaging, i.e., cling film wrapped on individual fruit + cling film wrapped on CFB (T 6 ) and shrink film wrapped on individual fruits + shrink film wrapped on CFB (T 3 ) have shown lower PLW, respiration, ethylene evolution rate, lower PPO activity, alpha‐amylase activity and TSS. Also, the packaging of breadfruit with T 6 and T 3 was able to retain higher antioxidant, phenols, and flavonoids content along with higher firmness and SOD activity. However, cling film wrapped on individual fruit + cling film wrapped on CFB (T 6 ) packaging showed no/low bacterial and fungal colonies. Whereas, shrink film wrapped on individual fruits + shrink film wrapped on CFB (T 3 ) packaging was able to show low fungal colonies only. The Breadfruit had 12 days of shelf‐life when packed in T 6 and T 3 . The research highlights the effectiveness of these packaging methods in enhancing the marketability and extending the shelf‐life of breadfruit, offering essential guidance for post‐harvest handling and storage techniques.