The head space gaseous composition for O2 and CO2 showed a
significant ( p < 0.05) difference among the modified atmosphere
packed chillies (Fig. 2). Anti-fog (RD45) film maintained
an optimum O2 and CO2 levels (5% O2, 3% CO2) due to the
optimum gas permeabilities of the film followed by polyolefin
(2.1% O2, 1.9% CO2), PE-LD (0.49% O2, 2.6% CO2) and microporous
(12% O2, 0.5% CO2) films. The PE-LD film packed chillies
showed higher CO2 and lower O2 levels due to poor gas
permeability of PE-LD. Whereas, the microporous film packed
samples showed higher O2 and lower CO2 levels leading to
faster senescence. Respiration rate (RR) of the packed and
unpackaged chillies differed significantly ( p < 0.05) at 8 1 8C