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Many a time farmers harvest premature fruits to avail the early markets advantage
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Such fruits fail to ripen uniformly under normal conditions; a banned chemical, calcium carbide, is used for forced ripening posing health and environmental risks
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Uniform ripening of mango is possible with the use of ethylene ; accepted world over
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Procedure involves dipping of fruits (100kg) in 100 litres of water containing 62.5-187.5ml ethrel / ethepon at 52 ± 2o C for 5 minutes
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Concentration of ethrel to be used depends upon maturity of fruits, less matured ones require higher concentration
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Solution prepared once, can be repearedly used for four times
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Ethrel treated fruits ripen uniformly with attractive yellow colour without any spoilage within 4-5 days of treatment
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Quality of fruits also improves; enhances market appeal
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Low cost ripening chamber (one ton capacity-7x7x7 ft) for the purpose of using ethylene gas (available in 200ml canister) directly based on this principle, can also be developed for use either by the farmers or retailers or processors
