Abstract
Cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) is a non-climacteric fruit with a relatively short postharvest life span, being very sensitive to water loss, darkening and decay. Cactus pear is a spiny fruit, and the presence of glochids limits fruit consumption and diffusion; therefore, minimally processing, as well as peel removing, could be an opportunity to improve its availability, consumption, and diffusion in national and international markets. In this study, cactus pear minimally processed fruits were treated with a mucilage-based coating extracted from Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes and stored at 5 °C for 9 days. The effect of mucilage edible coating on the postharvest life, qualitative attributes, and nutraceutical value of fruit were evaluated by colors, firmness, total soluble solids content, titratable acidity, ascorbic acid, betalains and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl). Results showed that mucilage-based coating improved the quality and preserves the nutraceutical value of minimally processed cactus pear fruits during storage. The edible coating was effective in maintaining fruit fresh weight, total soluble solids content, fruit firmness, ascorbic acid and betalain content, sensorial traits, and visual score. Coated fruits showed a significantly lower microbiological growth than uncoated control fruits during the entire cold storage period.
Highlights
Cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) is cultivated for fruit production over100,000 ha located in semi-arid areas in both hemispheres
Total Soluble Solids (TSS) showed a slight no significant increase in O. ficus-indica (OFI) C samples, while Titratable Acidity (TA) values remained stables in both samples during cold storage, no significant differences between OFI C and OFI M occurred for TSS and TA (Table 1)
The mucilage coating did not negatively affect the natural taste of cactus pear fruits, which is an important aspect regarding the use of edible coatings when taste modification is undesirable
Summary
100,000 ha located in semi-arid areas in both hemispheres Despite this large diffusion, cactus pear marketing is seasonal, and due to the poor post-harvest performances of the fruit, covers no more than two months in each ripening season of each cultivar [1]. Cactus pear is a spiny fruit, and the presence of glochids limits fruit consumption and diffusion in the international and local markets, especially in countries where cactus pear is not cultivated [1,4]. Minimally processing, such as peel removal of cactus pears fruits, could be an opportunity to improve its availability, consumption, and diffusion in national and international markets. Cactus pear is a non-climacteric fruit with a relatively short postharvest life span; being very sensitive to water loss, darkening and, decay; fresh fruits are very sensitive to chilling injury [6]
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