THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT PACKAGING MATERIALS ON QUALITY AND LONG-TERM STORAGE OF FRUITS OF LEMON VARIETIES

Аннотация

The scientific article shows that when using various packaging materials for the qualitative preservation of lemon fruits, the most optimal option is to store lemon fruits in polyethylene bags, which achieves high results in all indicators (natural shrinkage indicators%, output of unfit products%, rotten products% and output of marketable products%). When these indicators are compared between lemon varieties, experimental materials are presented that show that the fruits of Tashkent and Yubileiny varieties achieve higher results than other lemonvarieties . Key words:lemon, fruit, cold temperature, packaging material, parchment, polyethylene bag, Introduction Lemons have unique characteristics compared to other citrus fruits, and the harvesting process is also somewhat different. Lemons are harvested gradually and in stages. Lemons are generally 75-80% ripe at one time and can be harvested. If lemons are not harvested on time, the degree of ripening increases and the shelf life is affected. Lemon harvest mainly falls on the 3rd decade of October and the 1st-2nd decade of December in our republic. During the research, experiments were conducted to preserve the lemon harvest for as long as possible and with high quality, to deliver the product to the market, that is, to the population, using various methods and storage conditions in various storage structures, including controlled storage conditions in natural conditions, and to pack lemon fruits in various packaging materials. Taking into account the above, in our experiments, studies were conducted to determine the level ofstorage toleranceof lemon fruits inthe following storage conditions. In this experiment, experimentswere conducted onstoring the products in a simpleopen state (in ordinary warehouses, packed in boxes, at a temperature of 8-14°C, relative humidity of 45-55%), as well as on storing the fruits of lemon varieties in an open state, wrapped in plain paper, parchment paper, and food film. During our experiment, 4 variants and 4 replicates were used. In this case, 10 kg in each replicate, 40 kg in each variant, 160 kg of each variety, and a total of 640 kg of lemon products were placed in various packaging materials for storage. page238 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISSN:2692-5206,ImpactFactor:12,23 AmericanAcademicpublishers,volume05,issue05,2025 Journal: https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai Scientificresearch was conducted mainly onthepreservation of fruits of theMeyer, Tashkent, Yubileiny and Chinese lemon varieties grown in our republic. The data was analyzed over a three-year period based on the above-mentioned experiments. Based on the analysis, the level of storage resistance of the varieties and the duration of qualitative storage, as well as the effect of various packaging materials onthenatural decline oftheproduct, were studied. Fruit color, size and firmness are important quality indicators of lemon varieties. Therefore, in our research, these indicators of lemon fruit were stored and the aspects related to the coefficient ofimportance were studied depending ontheduration and method ofstorage. It is known that during the storage of lemon fruits, the antioxidant activity and the content of phenolic compounds in the product decrease, and as a result, the products deteriorate in a short time. At the same time, the conditions of their cultivation have a direct impact on the storage of lemon fruits. It should be noted that the geographical location of the region where the fruit is grown and the processes occurring in the plants also have an impact on the storage offruits. The basis of the vital activity of living organisms is the process of respiration, which produces theenergy contained in organic matterand necessary forall otherlife processes. Depending on the different parts of the fruit, respiration and physiological processes in lemons vary. During storage, the respiration process of lemons varies depending on the variety of lemons and their individual tissues. Some tissues have different respiration coefficients. Like all fruits, lemons undergo rapid respiration in the first days after harvest. This effect is due to the reaction of their separation from the plant, that is, when the lemon is plucked from the tree. When lemons come out of dormancy, increased respiration increases theconsumptionof nutrients. During storage of lemons, moisture evaporates from the products, which disrupts the normal course of metabolic processes in them. As a result, a decrease in the water content of the peel tissues of lemons is observed, and the process of decomposition of organic substances accelerates, and energy metabolism is sharply disrupted. In this case, the resistance of lemons to pathogens decreases significantly. During storage of lemons, the temperature in the storage room has a significant effect on the quality of theproduct, and when it increases, the intensity of biochemical processes increases, i.