Quality enhancement and shelf-life elongation of postharvest Pleurotus tuoliensis through sealed packaging

Abstract

The effectiveness of sealed packaging treatment by investigating firmness, weight loss, the browning index (BI), the respiration rate, chemical composition, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, and activity of metabolic enzymes and the useless of a series of perforated packaging treatments according to the geometric sequence 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 by studying firmness, weight loss, BI for Pleurotus tuoliensis were demonstrated. The results showed that perforated packaging was not applicable for the preservation of P. tuoliensis, while the sealed packaging treatment effectively reduced the weight loss, browning degree, and respiration rate of P. tuoliensis. Meanwhile, the sealed packaging could maintain the firmness of P. tuoliensis, inhibit the activity of metabolic enzymes, reduce the accumulation of MDA/total phenols, and delay the degradation of the soluble protein and polysaccharides. Using sealed packaging could extend the shelf life of P. tuoliensis to more than 10 days at 15℃, and more than 6 days at 25℃. These results indicated that oxygen was a decisive factor in the softening and browning of P. tuoliensis, which can provide appropriate guidance for the preservation of P. tuoliensis.