A COMBINATION OF HEAT TREATMENT AND CHITOSAN COATING DELAYS RIPENING AND REDUCES DECAY IN “GALA” APPLE FRUIT |
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| Authors: | XF SHAO K TU S TU J TU |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Food Science and Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China;2. College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China;3. Faculty of Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia;4. Australian School of Advanced Medicine, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia |
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| Abstract: | ABSTRACT Apples (Malus domestica Borkh. cv. Gala) were heat‐treated at 38C for 4 days (heat treatment HT]) before or after coated with 1% chitosan (CTS). Following treatment, apples were stored at 0C for 8 weeks and 20C for 7 days as shelf life. The effectiveness of the combined treatments on the ripeness, quality and decay development caused by Penicillium expansum and Botrytis cinerea was evaluated. Severe heat damage was observed on the fruits heat‐treated after CTS coating (CTS + HT), appeared as external decay and internal brown after treatment. However, no damage on fruits heated before CTS coating (HT + CTS) during the whole storage. Besides the completely control of blue mold and gray mold on artificially inoculated fruits during storage, the HT + CTS treated fruit showed the lowest respiration rate, ethylene evolution, malondialdehyde and membrane leakage, and the highest firmness and consumer acceptance among the treatments. At the same time, this combined treatment could inhibit the lost of green color, titratable acidity and weight loss compared with HT alone. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS “Gala” apple fruits become more popular in the world because of its high productivity and good quality. Hot air treatment alone has been used to delay ripening of Gala but caused the loss of peel green, titratable acidity and weight. This work investigated the effects of hot air treatment combined with chitosan (CTS) coating on the ripening, quality and decay development for Gala apple fruits. Compared with fruits heat‐treat alone, fruits heat‐treated before CTS coating (heat treatment + CTS) preserved original peel color, maintained titratable acidity and weight, completely control decay development and showed the highest consumer acceptance after storage. The information obtained from this study suggested that this combined treatment may be a suitable method for the commercial application on Gala apple fruits. |
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