Effect of modified atmosphere on methanol extractable Phenolics of persimmon modified atmosphere effect on persommon phenolics

Abstract

SummaryPersimmon fruits were exposed to ethanol and nitrogen atmosphere for half (E1 and N1), one (E2 and N2) and 2 h (E3 and N3), stored for 5 weeks at ambient temperature and analyzed weekly for different phenolic compounds responsible for astringency and sensory characteristics. Methanol soluble proanthocyanidine content decreased significantly (P 0.05) from 7.2 (E1 week 1) to 1.0 ΔA550 g−1 (E3week 5) with ethanol treatment and from 6.8 (N1 week 1) to 3.0 ΔA550 g−1 (N1 week 5) with nitrogen treatment. The losses in leucoanthocyanidine content were maximum with ethanol‐ and nitrogen‐treated samples for 2 h. Total phenols in control decreased from 0.5% to 0.2% (E3) and 0.3% (N3) during 1st week. The methanol soluble sinapine content of control samples decreased significantly from 0.05% to 0.02% with 2 h ethanol and nitrogen atmosphere during 1st week of storage. The lowest values for catechin content were observed for all treatments at the end of 5 weeks storage. The data on sensory evaluation revealed highest score with N3 treatment and storage when compared with other treatments, reflecting improvement in sensory properties because of decrease in astringency.