Vol. 9, Special Issue 12, Part K (2025)

The present study was done to evaluate the effects of dry salt and brine preservation on twenty Appemidi mango genotypes traditionally used for pickle making in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. Tender fruits were collected at the pickle stage and subjected to two curing methods: dry salting, where fruits were layered with coarse salt in a 1:1 ratio, and brining, where fruits were immersed in a saturated salt solution containing 25-30% NaCl. After six months of curing period, four qualitative parameters-colour after preservation, fermentation intensity, final stabilized colour and shrinkage, were assessed visually. The results revealed clear genotype-specific responses and marked differences between the two treatments. Dry salt consistently caused uniform browning in almost all genotypes, while brine preserved yellowish green colour in thirteen types and resulted in browning in seven, indicating variability in pigment stability. Fermentation intensity under dry salt remained mostly medium, whereas brine supported strong fermentation in thirteen genotypes and medium fermentation in the remaining seven. Final stabilized colour after six months showed a strong predominance of browning under dry salt, with only four genotypes retaining yellow, while brine produced an equal distribution of light yellow and brown colour among genotypes. Shrinkage was uniformly high under dry salt due to rapid dehydration, whereas brine resulted in low, medium and high shrinkage categories, with medium shrinkage dominating and only two genotypes showing high shrinkage. Overall, the study demonstrates that preservation behaviour in Appemidi mangoes is strongly influenced by genotype as well as curing method, enabling targeted utilization of specific types based on colour stability, fermentation behaviour and structural integrity for diverse pickle products.