Vol. 10, Special Issue 1, Part E (2026)

More than 40% of harvested fruit is lost, largely due to decay. In parallel, restrictions on postharvest fungicides call for eco-friendly alternatives. The efficacies of 7 different edible oils (Coconut oil, Olive oil, Linseed oil, Sesame oil, Almond oil, mustard oil, castor oil) were evaluated in this experiment for maintaining the quality of guava fruits that were stored for 12 days at room temperature. The experiment was conducted on the Gwalior-27 variety of guava in a completely randomized design. All the oil treatments improved the fruits’ quality in comparison to control, as indicated by the decrease in decay incidence, physiological loss in weight, better TSS content, color and other sensorial qualities of the fruits. The Castor oil recorded the least color change and minimum decay (20.1% at 12 days) among all the treatments and also maintained good level of total sugars (9.78% at 12 days) and reducing sugar (7.3% at 12 days) after coconut oil (10.1 and 7.94% respectively) but it was not able to maintain other sensory parameters like texture, flavour and taste. Whereas coconut oil followed by Olive oil got the highest scores in terms of taste, texture, flavour, with highest overall acceptability. So, it can be concluded that coconut oil followed by olive oil coatings can be an eco-friendly approach to extend the shelf life of guava up to 12 days.