Abstract
The present study assessed the ability of chitosan‐based coatings incorporating savory and/or tarragon essential oils (EOs) to preserve the postharvest quality of kumquats. Changes in weight loss, titratable acidity, total soluble solids, and vitamin C content were determined over 30 days of storage at 7°C. Savory (Satureja hortensias L.) essential oil was characterized by thymol (29.1%), carvacrol (26.6%), and γ‐terpinene (24.72%) as major constituents. While, in the tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) essential oil, estragol (81.89%), β‐cis‐Ocimene (4.62%), and β‐trans‐Ocimene (3.44%) were the main ones. The CH‐EOs coatings were effective in reducing weight loss of kumquats fruits during storage. Moreover, the tested composite coatings showed positive effects in maintaining vitamin C and fruits treated with CH‐oil coatings retained good sensory acceptability. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of the combined application of chitosan and savory and/or tarragon EOs as a promising postharvest treatment for maintaining the postharvest quality of kumquats fruits.
Highlights
Kumquat (Fortunella sp.) is a smallest citrus fruit with a round-oval shape that belongs to the Rutaceae family (Peng et al, 2013); it is native of China, but recently has been widely cultivated in the world
GC-MS analysis of SEO and TEO resulted in the identification of 32 and 33 compounds, respectively (Table 1)
The major constituents in SEO were thymol (29.1%), followed by carvacrol (26.6%), γ-terpinene (24.72%), ρ-cymene (7.55%), and α-terpinene (3.96%)
Summary
Kumquat (Fortunella sp.) is a smallest citrus fruit with a round-oval shape that belongs to the Rutaceae family (Peng et al, 2013); it is native of China, but recently has been widely cultivated in the world. During storage the composition of citrus may be changed by alter of conditions such as temperature and storage period (Peng et al, 2013); changes in kumquats compounds are correlated with the increased time of warehousing.
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