EFFECT OF ETHEPHON IMMERSION DURATION ON QUALITY OF LEMON (CITRUS LIMON) DURING DEGREENING AND STORAGE

• Main Author: Zahra Hanifa, Tsabita
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknologi
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/57156
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Lemon is a citrus that has a characteristic bright yellow skin with a refreshing taste and aroma. The appearance of local lemons tends to have low attractiveness because the outer appearance of lemons is still yellowish-green and not uniform even though it is ripe. Efforts made to improve the quality of lemons are through degreening with ethephon. Degreening in lemons is influenced by several factors including the duration of ethephon immersion. Giving ethephon can affect the quality of lemons during storage after the degreening process. The study aimed to determine the effect of ethephon immersion duration on the quality of lemons during the degreening and storage processes and to determine the best duration of ethephon immersion for lemon degreening. The research design used was a simple randomized block design consisting of four treatments for the duration of ethephon immersion, namely 0 minutes, 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes. The concentration of ethephon used is 480 ppm. The variables tested in this study were Citrus Color Index (CCI), °hue, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, texture, weight loss, juice content, total dissolved solids (TPT), total titrated acid (TAT), organoleptic test for color, appearance, and texture and rot. The results showed that the duration of ethephon immersion affected the color change of the lemon peel, but did not affect the texture, weight loss, and internal quality of the lemons. Sensory assessment by hedonic quality showed an increase in color and appearance scores in the treatment with ethephon immersion, but in the treatment without ethephon immersion there was a decrease and a decrease in texture scores in each treatment. Meanwhile, hedonic, treatment with ethephon immersion is preferable to treatment without ethephon immersion. The spoilage in the treatment without ethephon immersion and ethephon immersion 10 minutes was higher than the lemon with ethephon immersion 1 minute and 5 minutes. The best ethephon immersion duration for degreening and storage of lemons is 5 minutes.