Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
of Fresh Strawberries
AHMED
EL GHAOUTH,
JOSEPH AWL,
RATHY PONNAMPALAM,
ABSTRACT
The effect of chitosan coating (1.0 and 1.5% w/v) in controlling decay
of strawberries at 13C was investigated as compared to a fungicide,
iprodione (Rovralm). Chitosan coating significantly reduced decay of
berries (PsO.05) compared to the control. There was no significant
difference between chitosan and fungicide treatments up to 21 days
storage. Thereafter, Rovrala-treated berries decayed at a higher rate
than chitosan-coated berries. Chitosan-coated berries stored at 4C
were firmer, higher in titratable acidity, and synthesized anthocyanin
at a slower rate than Rovrala-treated or nontreated berries. Chitosan
coating decreasedrespiration rate of the berries with a greater effect
at higher concentration.
and Quality
and MARCEL
BOULET
INTRODUCTION
STRAWBERRY FRUIT (Fragatiu ananussu) is highly perishable and its storage life is often terminated by fungal infection causedby Botrytis cinereu and Rhizopus sp. (Maas, 1981).
The most prevalent method of maintaining quality and controlling decay of strawberries is by rapid cooling after harvest
and storage at low temperatures, typically 1C with high humidity. Since effective control of temperature during transit
and storage of strawberries is difficult, other means of preservation have been sought. Because strawberries can tolerate
elevated CO, atmosphere, they are transported in pallet-bags
under high COZ (Bell, 1986). Although high CO* controls decay (El Kazzaz et al., 1983), prolonged exposure to CO1 can
cause development of off-flavors (Woodward and Topping,
1972).
Postharvest decay of strawberries can also be controlled by
application of fungicides (Jordan, 1973; Aharani and Barkai-
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MATERIALS
& METHODS
chemicalswere of analyticalgrade.
Chitosan coating solutions
of inoculum
Bovtis cinereu was isolated from infected strawberries and maintained on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Conidia of B. cinerea were
recovered by filtering the my&al s&pension of 2-wk old culture
through 3 layers of sterile cheese cloth. The concentration of the
conidial suspensionwas adjusted to 2 x 105 conidia per mL.
Decay control
60-
2
1
Time ( days )
Fig. 1 -Effect of chitosan coating, 1.0% (o), 1.5% (o), and RovraP
(iprodione) treatment @) on the decay control of strawberries
stored at 13C compared to the control (water-treated) berries
e). Means of four replicates. Vertical bars represent LSD at 5%
level among treatments.
Quality attributes
The effect of chitosan coating and Rovrale on quality was assessed
separatelywith non-inoculatedberries. They were dipped in Rovral@
suspension(100 ug/mL) or in chitosan solutions (1.0 and 1.5% w/v)
or in water control and stored at 4C as described. All treatments
contained 0.1% Tween 80. Each treatment had 4 replicates, and each
replicate consisted of 70 berries. Quality of the berries was assessed
eachweek. A sample of 15-20 berries in total was randomly removed
from each treatment and analyzed for firmness, titratable acidity and
anthocyanin content. To determine firmness, the berries were sliced
into halves and each half was punch tested. The penetration force
(Newton) of the flesh was measuredwith an Instron Universal Testing
Machine (Model 1101, Instron Corp., Canton, MA) using a 4 mm
flat plunger (Holt, 1970). Titratable acidity was expressedas mg of
citric acid/100 mL. Acidity was determinedusing 10 g aliquot of puree
in 40 mL deionized water and titrating with 0.1 N NaOH to an endpoint of pH 8.1. Anthocyanins were extracted with acidified ethanol
from a 2 g aliquot of a homogenateof 7 berries, according to the
method of Fuleki and Francis (1968). Anthocyanin content was expressedas mg anthocyanin/lOOgstrawberry homogenate.The quality
evaluation data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
Respiration
The respiration rate of strawberries at 4C was determined by placing them (120 g) in an air tight container (1.35-L) for 2 to 4 hr. Then
a 5 mL gas samplewas withdrawn with a gas tight hypodermic syringe
and analyzed for CO* using a gas chromatograph equipped with a
TCD detector and a Poropak N Column. Four replicates of each treatment were analyzed.
14
21
26
35
TIME (days)
Fig. a-Texture
(A) and Titratable acidity (B) of control lb), Rovral@-treated P), l.O%, (0) and 1.5% (0) chitosan-coated strawberries stored at 4C. Vertical bars represent SE values.
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SCIENCE-1619
The CO, production of strawberries stored at 4C is presented in Fig. 4. The pattern of respiration for the 1.5% samples was different than those of the control and 1.0% samples.
However, coating with chitosan had an immediate stimulatory
effect on respiration. Such effects gradually disappeared during
the following 2 days. Reduction of respiration rate by chitosan
coating became evident beyond the 4th d of storage. The effect
of chitosan coating on CO, production was greater at higher
concentration.
30 -
c
g
25
5
E
s
.E
20-
95
lo-
lz
E
a
5-
15-
CONCLUSIONS
lb
1;
2b
2;
3b
3;
4'0
4;
Days in storage
Fig. 3-Anthocyanin
content of control @), RovraP-treated
@),
1.0% (0) and 1.5% (e) chitosan-coatedstrawberries
stored at 4C.
Vertical bars represent SE values.
13
I
AZ
.
11
REFERENCES
y"
ii
V
c
.o
5
5
t
cu
8
5
0
10
12
14
16
Days in storage
Fig. 4-CO, production of control @), 1.0% (0) and 1.5% (a) chitosan-coated strawberries
stored at 4C. Vertical bars represent
SE values.
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