Berry rotting
The percentage of berry rotting increased gradually with increase in storage days in all spray groups and in all treatments. The highest % of rotting was seen in control (T0) in all cases. All the treatments were effective in controlling berry rotting while the least rotting was observed in T1 and T3 in spray schedule of 2 DBH and 10 DBH respectively. Remarkably, in the plants with spray schedule of 10 + 2 DBH, both treatments T1 and T3 exhibited similarly low levels of rotting. In overall, the data shows that treatment T1 led to a substantial decrease in rotting in both the 2 DBH and 10 DBH groups, as compared to their respective controls (Fig. 1) (Table. 1).
Rachis browning
The rachis browning accelerated with increase in days after harvest among all treatments and in all spray groups. In the spray schedules of 2 DBH, 10 DBH, and 10 + 2 DBH, the rachis achieved a score of 4, which indicates full browning, at the end of the 8 DAH. Both T1 and T3 in the 2 DBH group maintained a completely green rachis until 4 DAH, with T1 showing a lower score than the control by 8 DAH. T1 and T3 underwent a transition from a completely green state to the early phases of browning in the 10 DBH group. At 8 DAH, T1 had the lowest score when compared to the control group. Within the 10 + 2 DBH group, there was a progressive increase in browning. At 8 DAH, both treatment T1 and T3 achieved a score of 3.5, which was comparable to the control group. Based on the total mean data, treatments T1 in the 2 DBH group were effective in maintaining the pigmentation of the rachis until 8 DAH (Fig. 2) (Table. 2).
Berry Shattering
Among all spray schedules (2 DBH, 10 DBH, and 10 + 2 DBH), T0 consistently had a highest level of berry shattering, whereas T2 consistently had the lowest rate of shattering in all three groups. Remarkably, the lowest percentage of shattering was detected in T2, which was sprayed at 10 DBH. This indicates a decrease of 67.16% in berry shattering as compared to the control groups that correspond to them (Fig. 3) (Table. 3).
Berry cracking
T0 constantly showed a greater rate of berry cracking throughout all spray regimens. In contrast, the prevalence of cracking was lowest in T2 among the 10 DBH group and both T1 and T2 within the 2 DBH group. T2 and T3 showed similar trends in reducing the cracking in 10 + 2 group. The overall pooled data represented shows that in the 2 DBH group, both T1 and T2 exhibited a significant decrease in cracking. Similarly, T2 showed reductions in the 10 DBH and 10 + 2 DBH as compared to their respective controls (Fig. 4) (Table. 4).
Total Soluble Sugars
The TSS content showed minor variations as affected by the preharvest treatments during the storage period in all spray schedules. The control (T0) had the lowest TSS content, whereas T1 consistently showed greater sugar levels in all three spray scheduled plants. Specifically, in the spray given 2 DBH, there was a notable 20.90% rise in brix in T1 as compared to the control. These findings indicate that treatment T1 significantly improved the sugar buildup in the berries in plant sprayed 2 DBH than on plants sprayed 10 and 10 + 2 DBH (Fig. 5) (Table. 5).
Physiological loss in weight
There was a significant loss in weight throughout the storage period in all samples. The control (T0) had the highest PLW across the three spray groups. Specifically, among the plants sprayed with 10 DBH, T2 shown enhanced effectiveness in lowering weight loss when compared to the control while T1 maintained lesser weight loss in 2 DBH and 10 + 2 DBH sprayed groups. Nevertheless, the most effective method to control weight loss was shown to be T1 when sprayed on plants 2 DBH (Fig. 6) (Table. 6).