Articles
Postharvest treatment of nanochitosan-based coating loaded with Mentha pulegium essential oil to prolong the shelf-life of blueberry
Article number
1440_46
Pages
333 – 340
Language
English
Abstract
Recently, there has been a growing interest in using natural and biodegradable materials through nanotechnology to produce edible coatings as an environmentally friendly technique to increase fruit shelf life.
The aim of the present study was to minimize postharvest losses of blueberries through the use of an edible nano-coating containing pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) essential oil (MPEO) encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles (CHNP-MPEO). This study was done as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications.
Concentration of CHNP-MPEO and storage time of blueberries were two factors of the experiment.
The results showed that increasing the duration of storage caused a decrease in moisture, color, pH, phenol, and anthocyanin, but increased acidity and weight loss with the greatest effect on fruits observed at 21 days of storage.
The application of CHNP-MPEO coating decreased weight loss and antioxidant activity and increased colorimetry, phenol, and anthocyanin.
In addition, a significant reduction of the microbial counts for all CHNP-MPEO coated blueberries was observed in the experiment.
The results showed that the coatings with CHNP-MPEO were efficient enough in controlling the microbial growth of the blueberries and can be applied to extend the shelf life of blueberries.
The aim of the present study was to minimize postharvest losses of blueberries through the use of an edible nano-coating containing pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) essential oil (MPEO) encapsulated in chitosan nanoparticles (CHNP-MPEO). This study was done as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications.
Concentration of CHNP-MPEO and storage time of blueberries were two factors of the experiment.
The results showed that increasing the duration of storage caused a decrease in moisture, color, pH, phenol, and anthocyanin, but increased acidity and weight loss with the greatest effect on fruits observed at 21 days of storage.
The application of CHNP-MPEO coating decreased weight loss and antioxidant activity and increased colorimetry, phenol, and anthocyanin.
In addition, a significant reduction of the microbial counts for all CHNP-MPEO coated blueberries was observed in the experiment.
The results showed that the coatings with CHNP-MPEO were efficient enough in controlling the microbial growth of the blueberries and can be applied to extend the shelf life of blueberries.
Publication
Authors
P. Abdollahi, R. Ebrahimi
Keywords
blueberry, anthocyanin, antimicrobial efficacy, encapsulation, antioxidant activity, edible coating
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