The present research work was undertaken to study the effect of thickness of polyethylene bag on physical and biochemical parameters of sapota. The aim of the study is to increase the shelf-life of sapota using Modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) technology. To find out the effect of polyethylene bag on shelf life of sapota and different factors that influenced the ripening process and their interaction; total 27 treatments were formed, which combine three levels of polyethylene bag (25 µ, 40 µ and 60 µ), three levels of gas concentration (5 % O2 + 5 % CO2, 5 % O2 + 10 % CO2 and 5 % O2 + 15 % CO2) and 3 levels of storage temperature (6ºC, 11 ºC and Room temperature 12-25 ºC) were carried out. The observations of different physical, biochemical and organoleptic parameters were taken at seven days interval.
The study revealed that weight loss, pulp to peel ratio, TSS, total sugar and reducing sugar were increased with increasing storage period and firmness, specific gravity, marketable fruits, ascorbic acid and titrable acidity were decreased with increasing storage period. It was found from the research work, that the shelf-life of sapota can be increased for 49 days by packed them in 25 µ polyethylene bag thickness under 5 % O2 + 10 % CO2 gas mixture and stored at 6 ºC temperature without much changes in physical, biochemical and organoleptic parameters. Thus, it is recommended that sapota can be stored up to 49 days during transportation and export with specified storage condition.