Effect of Chitosan Biopolymer on Microbial Decay in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Variety ‘Dev’ under Ambient Temperature

Abstract

The current study sought to investigate the influence of chitosan biopolymer against microbial decay in tomato. In the present study, bulk-chitosan at different concentrations (0.01, 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, 0.16, 0.20% w/v) along with control were evaluated on tomato variety ՙDev՚ by dipping fruits for 6 min and stored at ambient temperature (27ºC±2). Bulk-chitosan at 0.16% was found most effective to prevent microbial decay and maintain sensory evaluation from day 1 to days 21 as compared to control. Based on the aforementioned results and comparative evaluation of different doses of bulk-chitosan, we concluded that chitosan is very effective at less concentration and thus exert minimum chemical load on the treated tomatoes. Therefore, it may claim that chitosan biopolymer have potential to protects tomato against microbial decay.