Postharvest quality and shelf life of some hot pepper varieties

Five hot pepper varieties were grown at Haramaya University Research Farm, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. The experiment was undertaken using completely randomized block design (RCBD) with three replications. Green peppers were stored under ambient and evaporatively cooled conditions. Significant (P ≤ 0.05) differences were observed among cultivars and storage conditions in changes in quality of pepper. Storage at ambient conditions resulted in high weight loss and rapid deterioration in chemical composition. The highest and lowest moisture contents were recorded in Melka Eshet and PBC 600, respectively. Evaporative cooler reduced weight loss and maintained higher levels of pH, ascorbic acid and marketability. The highest weight loss was recorded in Melka Dima stored at ambient condition. The lowest weight loss and highest ascorbic acid content was obtained in Mareko Fana stored in evaporative cooler. After 16 days of storage, all pepper fruits stored at ambient condition were unmarketable while those stored in evaporative cooler were kept up to 28 days. The highest pungency level was observed in ambient storage environment than in evaporative cooler. Evaporative cooling was shown to improve shelf life by four-fold compared to the ambient condition. The shelf life of pepper was improved in all varieties tested while the quality characteristics were maintained better in Mareko Fana than in the other varieties when harvested at mature-green stage and stored under evaporatively cooled storage.