Physiological Mechanism of Exogenous Vitamin E Influencing Shelf-Life, Physicochemical Quality and Microorganism of Fresh-Cut Chinese Water Chestnut

Abstract

Prolonging shelf-life of fresh-cut water-chestnut (WC) by Vitamin E (VE) was investigated. Degree of browning, degree of decay and edible quality of fresh-cut WC were evaluated as evaluation indexes of shelf-life. Meanwhile, total soluble solids content (TSSC), titratable acid (TA), ascorbic acid content, hardness, ethylene content, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, peroxidase (POD) activity, total phenols content, number of thermophilic bacteria colonies and number of yeast and mold colonies were analyzed. Shelf-life of fresh-cut WC could be prolonged 4 days by soaking them in 0.04% (v/v) VE anhydrous ethanol (1% (v/v)) solution for 30 min. VE inhibited the increasing of PPO and POD activity, and the declining of total phenol content and hardness. VE had little effect on number of thermophilic bacteria colonies and number of yeast and mold colonies of fresh-cut WC. These results indicated that VE had potential application value in prolonging shelf-life of fresh cut WC.