Vida Fozi; Mehdi Hosseinifarahi; Foroud Bagheri; Azam Amiri
Abstract
Currently, the use of chemicals is reduced due to environmental problems and their negative impacts on human health. Besides, their use has been prohibited in some cases. Postharvest decay caused by fungal pathogens is one of the most important challenges facing the fresh citrus industry. So, the use ...
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Currently, the use of chemicals is reduced due to environmental problems and their negative impacts on human health. Besides, their use has been prohibited in some cases. Postharvest decay caused by fungal pathogens is one of the most important challenges facing the fresh citrus industry. So, the use of pomegranate peel extract (PPE) at the concentrations of 0, 33, 50, and 100% were used to reduce decay and maintain the postharvest qualitative characteristics of mandarin fruit. After treatment with PPE, the fruits were stored for 20 days. Traits such as weight loss, decay percentage, total soluble solids, total acidity, fruit firmness, color index, and sensory evaluation were investigated every five days. The lowest weight-loss percentage (14.71 %) was obtained for the fruits treated with 100% PPE as compared with the untreated fruits (42.28%). The fruits treated with PPE maintained firmness compared with the untreated fruits. The fruits treated with PPE showed the lowest acidity reduction at the end of the storage period. At the end of the storage period, the fruits treated with 100% PPE and the untreated fruits showed the lowest and highest fruit decay (16.3% and 39.6%), respectively. The results showed that the application of PPE increased the overall acceptance of panelists from the treated samples. By increasing the concentrations of PPE to 100%, all sensory parameters were improved and could gain a better acceptance by panelists. The highest level of utility and final acceptance in pomegranate peel-treated fruits were obtained at 100%. The untreated fruits showed a lower overall acceptance rate. The findings showed that the postharvest application of PPE improved the qualitative characteristics and sensory properties, so it is recommended to use 100% PPE to reduce the decay and extend the postharvest storage of mandarin.
Rouzbeh Abbaszadeh; Kosar Alimohammad; Romina Zarrabi Ekbatani
Abstract
Fig (Ficus carica L.) is a perishable fruit and it needs to use new techniques in order to increase shelf life of this product. In present study, atmospheric cold plasma as a non-thermal treatment was utilized for preserving fresh fig quality. Dielectric barrier discharge plasma was applied to fruits ...
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Fig (Ficus carica L.) is a perishable fruit and it needs to use new techniques in order to increase shelf life of this product. In present study, atmospheric cold plasma as a non-thermal treatment was utilized for preserving fresh fig quality. Dielectric barrier discharge plasma was applied to fruits in two steps. Durations of first treatments were 1 and 5 minutes. Based on this step results, main experiments were conducted for 30, 90 and 180s and cold plasma was applied to packed and unpacked fig samples. Quality was sensory evaluated in terms of color, texture, odor, appearance and overall acceptance. Firmness, color indices (L*, a* and b*),, total soluble solids and pH were also determined. Subjective measurements showed significant shelf life improvement of treated figs compared to control samples while objective quality attributes were not changed except pH and a* which are not undesired. Direct application of plasma for 90 s and in-package treatment for 30 s were suggested for further investigation and considering the practical aspects, pulsed plasma processing of packed figs for 30 s is recommended. It is concluded that atmospheric cold plasma has a potential for prolonging the shelf life of fresh fig fruits.
