Postharvest quality improvement of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit using a nanomultilayer coating containing aloe vera

• Autor(a) principal: Flores-López, M L
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Vieira, Jorge Miguel Magalhães, Rocha, Cristina M.R., Lagarón, José M, Cerqueira, Miguel Ângelo Parente Ribeiro, Jasso de Rodríguez, Diana, Vicente, A. A.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/1822/89373
• topic: nanomultilayer coatings; tomato; Aloe vera liquid fraction; gas barrier properties; postharvest quality

The effectiveness of an alginate/chitosan nanomultilayer coating without (NM) and with Aloe vera liquid fraction (NM+Av) was evaluated on the postharvest quality of tomato fruit at 20 °C and 85% relative humidity (RH) to simulate direct consumption. Both nanomultilayer coatings had comparable effects on firmness and pH values. However, the NM+Av coating significantly reduced weight loss (4.5 ± 0.2%) and molds and yeasts (3.5-4.0 log CFU g-1) compared to uncoated fruit (16.2 ± 1.2% and 8.0 ± 0.0 log CFU g-1, respectively). It notably lowered O2 consumption by 70% and a 52% decrease in CO2 production, inhibiting ethylene synthesis. Visual evaluation confirmed NM+Av's efficacy in preserving the postharvest quality of tomato. The preservation of color, indicated by the Minolta color (a*/b*) values, demonstrated NM+Av's ability to keep the light red stage compared to uncoated fruit. The favorable effects of NM+Av coating on enhancing postharvest quality indicates it as a potential alternative for large-scale tomato fruit preservation.