Application of ozone and bioagents for extension of storage life of strawberry

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
DIVISION OF FOOD SCIENCE & POSTHARVEST TECHNOLOGY ICAR- INDIAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE NEW DELHI
Abstract
The present study envisages the influence of ozone and bioagents on strawberry fruits with an objective of maintaining postharvest quality and extending its storage life so as to make it available for longer period during the season. For this, two experiments were conducted on strawberry cv. ‘Winter Dawn’. In the first experiment, fruits were harvested at 3/4th colour development and subjected to application of 0.1 ppm ozone for various time period (1, 2, 3, 4 minutes) to standardise the optimum ozonation time. Water washed strawberries were used as control. In another experiment, strawberry cv. ‘Winter Dawn’ fruits were treated with three different bioagents, namely Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Debaryomyces hansenii at a concentration of 107 cfu/ml. However for this experiment, two controls were taken, first in which fruits were not washed with water after treatment and in another, where the fruits were washed with water. For both the experiments, the strawberries were air dried and then packed in plastic punnets. The fruits of experiment-I were stored at two different storage conditions, i.e., at low temperature (2±1°C & 90-95% RH) and ambient temperature conditions (25±2°C & 45-50 % RH). For bioagent study, fruits were also stored at two conditions i.e., low temperature (5±1°C & 90% RH) and at ambient conditions (25±2° C & 90 % RH). Then, the treated strawberries were analysed for observing changes in the physical, biochemical and microbial parameters. In the first experiment, 0.1 ppm aqueous ozone applied for 2 minutes gave the best results, which significantly maintained the strawberry quality up to 14 days at low temperature (2±1°C & 90-93 % RH) and 3 days at ambient storage condition (25±2°C & 45-50 % RH). In the experiment 2, Debaryomyces hansenii exhibited the best results which lasted for 10 days at low temperature and 3 days at ambient storage condition. Control (water dipped) fruits showed maximum changes in the quality attributes as compared to the fruits which were not water washed and other treatments. The firmness losses, fruit decay, weight loss and biochemical changes were significantly low at low temperature storage conditions (2 ± 1°C). Colour changes were retarded as evidenced by the slow decrease in the chroma and hue angle in these optimized treatments. In general, treated samples showed a higher retention of biochemical parameters such as titratable acidity, TSS, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin, total antioxidant activity and total phenols in comparison to untreated fruits. Hence, it can be concluded that both aqueous ozone (0.1 ppm) dip for 2 min and application of Debaryomyces hansenii at 107 cfu/ml, can be recommended for extending storage life of ‘Winter Dawn’ strawberry fruits.
Description
t9682
Keywords
null
Citation
Collections