Improving shelf life and quality of guava fruit using an edible coating containing xanthan and pomegranate seed oil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Guava, a tropical fruit, has a short shelf life due to its rapid ripening and susceptibility to various factors like water loss, mechanical damage, and cold storage. This study aimed to address this issue by using an edible coating containing xanthan and enriched with pomegranate seed oil to preserve guava fruit quality over 21 days at 5 ± 1°C and 85%-95% relative humidity, and a 5-day shelf life. The treatments significantly reduced fruit weight loss, with the oil treatment showing the least weight loss (2.18%). While the respiration rate increased during storage, the treated fruits exhibited a lower respiration intensity. Notably, treatments with oil and xanthan maintained greater firmness than that of the control. The antioxidant capacities of the treated fruits were significantly higher, with xanthan showing the highest value (96.8%). In contrast, the control group had a significantly higher total soluble solids (TSS)/titratable acidity (TA) ratio of 113.5. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated that after 21 d, the control had high values of F1, associated with high TSS, respiration rate, weight loss, and TSS/TA. These findings suggest that pomegranate seed oil alone or Xan 0.2% + pomegranate seed oil effectively improve the shelf life and quality of guava fruit.