Apple (Malus Pyrus. L) belongs to the family Rosaceae and is one of the most famous fleshy and pulpy fruit, mostly grown in the temperate zone. Apple fruit can be taken as fresh, dried, and processed into juices, jams, jellies, and canned products. There are several species of apple grown in Gilgit-Baltistan such as Red delicious, Golden delicious, Golden delicious hard, Kala-Kulu, Dhang, and Noor-shah. Apple plays an important role in health maintenance and prevents several diseases. Red delicious apple variety is treated with different levels (1%, 2%, and 3%) of calcium lactate and stored at room temperature for one month. The samples were analyzed at 7 days of the interval during the storage period. During storage, the moisture content of red delicious apple fruit decreased from 79.19 to 68.82%. Ash content of the best apple variety increased from 2.61 to 2.79 % during storage. It was noticed that during storage pH value increased from 3.84 to 4.02. The total soluble solids of the red delicious variety increased from 11.76 to 12.63. During storage total sugars and reduction, sugars are increased. Total sugars increased from 69.06 to 69.47% and reducing sugars inclined from 15.37 to 15.89% while non-reducing sugars of red delicious apple declined from 53.69 to 53.53%. Furthermore titratable acidity is also reduced during storage from 0.17 to 0.10 %. The total phenolics contents and antioxidant activity are decreased. Antioxidant activity decreased from 24.37 % to 23.99% and total phenolics contents declined from 201.53 mg/GA to 201.09 mg/GA. Sensory evaluation of red delicious apple fruit was conducted during the storage period for color, flavor, texture, and overall acceptability. The color score decreased from 8.30 to 6.63. The score for flavor given by judges also declined from 8.40 to 7.20. The texture score was observed to be declined from 8.10 to 6.80. The overall acceptability score for the red delicious apple variety was lower from 8.26 to 6.06. It is concluded that the treatment that contains 3% calcium lactate showed best results in maintaining the physiochemical and sensory attributes followed by T2 and T1.

Keywords: Red delicious apple, Calcium lactate, Physicochemical properties, Antioxidant, Sensory attribute