Preservation of strawberry fruit with an Aloe vera gel and basil ( Ocimum basilicum ) essential oil coating at ambient temperature

Abstract

Strawberry deterioration accelerates after harvesting when the fruit are exposed at ambient temperature. Therefore, it is imperative to utilize efficient methods to mitigate the deterioration of fruit at ambient temperature. In the current study, harvested strawberries were coated with Aloe vera gel either alone or mixed with essential oil from basil plant. Coated strawberries were stored at ambient temperature (20°C) for 7 days and successfully retained their postharvest quality during storage. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the fracture morphology of coated and uncoated fruits.Application of coatings, specially the combination of Aloe vera with basil oil, reduced weight loss, respiration rate, degradation of vitamin C, and color change. Additionally, fungal growth was intensively prevented at room temperature. Finally, sensory analyses revealed positive results for the coatings on visual aspect. The results demonstrated that application of Aloe vera-basil oil complex coating is an effective method to preserve the postharvest quality and extend shelf life of strawberry fruit at room temperature. Novelty impact statement:• Combination of Aloe vera gel coating and basil oil preserved postharvest quality of strawberry fruit at ambient temperature.

Impacts of salicylic acid, chitosan, and salicyloyl chitosan on quality preservation and microbial load reduction in strawberry fruits during cold storage

“…SCS at two concentrations was clearly effective in conferring a physical barriers to moisture and in turn retarding dehydration and shriveling of treated fruits. Hygroscopic properties of CS enable formation of a barrier for water and gas transportation between the fruits and atmosphere that led to low rate of transpiration and respiration (Pavinatto et al, 2020). The conjugation of SA and CS as well as CS alone had greater effect on reducing weight loss in this study.…”

“…It is well known that low level of weight loss in stored fruits results from low rate of respiration and transpiration (Mohammadi, Tanaka, & Tanaka, 2021; Yan et al, 2019). SCS at two concentrations was clearly effective in conferring a physical barriers to moisture and in turn retarding dehydration and shriveling of treated fruits.…”

“…There is a considerable requirement for alleviation of strawberry losses caused by fungus infection during distribution and storage of fruits by employing the economical and convenient procedure in order to potentiate longer postharvest life. Great efforts have been done by researchers for alleviating postharvest losses of strawberry fruits during storage by applying postharvest treatments such as salicylic acid (Babalar et al, 2007; Hosseinifarahi et al, 2020), heat (Caleb et al, 2016; Langer et al, 2018), abscisic acid or methyl jasmonate (El‐Mogy et al, 2019), Aloe vera gel and ascorbic acid (Sogvar et al, 2016), A. vera gel and basil essential oil (Mohammadi, Tanaka, & Tanaka, 2021), chitosan or calcium chloride (Nguyen et al, 2020; Pavinatto et al, 2020), and ozone (Contigiani et al, 2020).…”

“…Autoxidation of AA in the presence of O 2 causes its losses during storage of fruits and vegetables. Coating of fruits surface with different compounds such as CS(Pavinatto et al, 2020) and A. vera gel(Hosseinifarahi et al, 2020;Mohammadi, Ramezanian, et al, 2021) serves as a barrier layer and restricts O 2 and Co 2 exchange and decreases autoxidation of ascorbic acid. Conjugating of SA to CS polymer backbone could improve significantly CS effect in inhibition of AA oxidation.…”

Volatile Organic Compounds from Basil Essential Oils: Plant Taxonomy, Biological Activities, and Their Applications in Tropical Fruit Productions

“…The essential oils from Ocimum spp. were able to inhibit the fungi causing the post-harvest diseases of the tropical fruits [10,13,14,101]. This also includes Colletotrichum spp., the fungus that causes anthracnose disease in common tropical fruits.…”