Overall Quality Properties of Kiwifruit Treated by Cinnamaldehyde and Citral: Microbial, Antioxidant Capacity during Cold Storage

Abstract

This work was undertaken to evaluate the microbiological characteristics and antioxidant and physiological activities in kiwifruits (Actinida deliciosa var. Qinmei) with/without cinnamaldehyde (C1) and citral (C2) fumigation treatments (5 μL/L) during 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 d of storage at 4 °C. Essential oils (EOs) treatment lowered the total viable counts, yeast, and mold to 1.54, 2.36, and 2.05 log CFU/g, respectively. Moreover, EOs improved the antioxidant activities of kiwifruit. They enhanced phenolics and flavonoids content in fruit tissue by 49.48% at day 3 and 56.93% at day 6, respectively. In addition, ascorbic acid in treated groups had the lower losing rate. Similarly, MDA (malondialdehyde), H O (hydrogen peroxide), and O (superoxide anion) production were effectively decreased in the range of 27.27% to 54.38%. Physicochemical characteristics showed that kiwifruits from treated group maintained higher levels of flesh luminosity and firmness. EOs also decreased the levels of reducing sugar by 45.97% at day 3, and increased the content of soluble protein and hydrolyzed amino acid. Therefore, postharvest EOs treatment has positive effects on delaying senescence and enhancing antioxidant capacities in kiwifruit.

Citral Delays Postharvest Senescence of Kiwifruit by Enhancing Antioxidant Capacity under Cold Storage

“…Citral, a terpenoid isolated from Litsea cubeba and Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass), is widely used for food, beverages, and cosmetics industry [20]. Recently, citral has been reported to have significant antifungal effects on postharvest pathogens such as P. italicum, P. digitatum, and Geotrichum citri aurantii [21,22], which effectively enhances the antioxidant capacities and disease resistance in some fruits [23,24]. In addition to these, citral has been used a promising plantderived pesticide, which seems to be a surprising application to protect horticultural products from fungal attacks [21,24].…”

Antifungal mechanism of cinnamaldehyde and citral combination against Penicillium expansum based on FT-IR fingerprint, plasma membrane, oxidative stress and volatile profile

“…Compared to some compounds used against P. expansum such as potassium phosphite, hydrogen peroxide, 2,7 cinnamaldehyde and citral have been legally registered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as avorings as well as foodstuffs and are generally accepted as safe (GRAS) for human health and environment. 8 Moreover, cinnamaldehyde and citral both exhibit direct inhibition of pathogens, as well as indirectly control pathogen growth by inducing the host's defence system. 9,10 Researchers have studied the complex action modes of EOs from various perspectives, but some mechanisms are still controversial.…”

Correlation between fruit weight and nutritional metabolism during development in CPPU-treated Actinidia chinensis ‘Hongyang’

“…Total soluble sugars were assessed using the colorimetric anthrone method (Huang et al, 2017). TA and soluble protein concentrations were determined as described in Kwon et al (2019) and Wang et al (2016), respectively. The precipitation obtained when extracting sugars was autoclaved for 1 h and then incubated with amyloglucosidase in 12 mL acetate buffer (0.25M, pH4.5, 55 C) for a 1 h. The sample was then centrifuged for 10 min at 7,000 rpm.…”