STUDIES ON POSTHARVEST SPOILAGE AND SHELF LIFE OF STRAWBERRY FRUITS (Fragaria x ananassa Duch.)
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Date
2018-06
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University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot (COLLEGE OF HORTICULTURE, GKVK POST, BENGALURU)
Abstract
Strawberry fruit is highly perishable and spoils rapidly due to contamination by pathogenic and nonpathogenic microorganisms, causing serious reduction in quality. We measured the effects of four treatments on shelf-life: 1) Aloe vera gel (AV)-based edible coatings in combination with ascorbic acid (AA); 2) CaCl2; 3) chitosan (CH); and 4) cassava starch (CS) with potassium sorbate (PS). Strawberries were coated with AV (15 and 25% v/v) + AA (3% w/v), CaCl2 (0.5 and 1% w/v), CH (1 and 1.5% v/v) and CS (2 and 3% w/v) + PS (0.1%) and uncoated fruit served as a control. After treatment, fruit weight loss, firmness loss, colour values, TSS, moisture content, titratable acidity (TA), ascorbic acid content, total anthocyanin, reducing sugar, total sugar and total microbial count were evaluated at 0, 1 and 3 days of storage (under room temperature) and 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 days of storage ( 9 ± 1°C, 70 to 80% RH). Compared to uncoated strawberries, all coating treatments significantly (P < 0.01) reduced weight loss, firmness loss, moisture loss, and total bacteria, yeast and mold. Coated strawberries also had significantly (P <0.01) higher TSS, ascorbic acid, and TA. Among all coating treatments, 1.5 per cent chitosan was most effective (P < 0.01)in maintaining higher ascorbic acid, TSS, titratable acidity and reducing microbial load compare to other treatments. These results indicate that edible coatings have potential as a means to reduce postharvest spoilage in strawberry fruits. Twenty six different microbial isolates were observed in strawberry, of which ten are bacteria which belong to Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Micrococcus spp., six are fungi (Fusarium spp., Aspergillus spp., Penicillium spp., Cladosporium spp., Rhizopus spp. and Botrytis spp.) and ten are yeasts which belong to Saccharomyces spp., Rhodotorula spp., Pichia spp. and Candida spp.