1Department of Food Technology, VIGNAN's Foundation for Science, Technology & Research, Deemed to be University, Vadlamudi, Guntur-522213, Andhra Pradesh, India
P G Department of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Gujarat-388120, India
*Author for correspondence: Email: drtvrr-ft@vignan.ac.in
Online Published on 13 July, 2022.
A study has been carried out to evaluate the efficacy of aloe vera gel coating, UV-C and ozone gas treatment in combination and/or alone of each one of them in improving the post-harvest shelf life and nutritional quality maintenance of tomatoes. Tomatoes were stored at room temperature (29 ± 2 °C) and their physico-chemical analyses were done at a regular 5-day interval of storage period. The parameters analyzed for determination of quality of stored tomatoes included total phenols, pH, total soluble solids, ascorbic acid, total sugars, physiological weight loss and polygalacturonase and cellulase enzymes. The tomatoes treated with aloe vera gel coating had higher amount of total phenols as compared to that of control set. The accumulation of lycopene and total sugars present in the fruits treated with aloe vera gel coating were lower than that of the control. The study revealed that the treatments of aloe vera gel and UV-C could extend the shelf life of tomatoes to the extent of 16 days (6 days more) as compared to 10-day shelf life of fruits of control set. Thus it may be concluded that the combination of aloe vera gel coating and UV-C treatments may be useful in improving the post-harvest shelf life of tomato fruit while retaining its nutritional quality.
Aloe vera gel coating, Cell wall softening enzymes, Lycopersicon esculentum, Ozone gas, Postharvest shelf life, UV-C treatment
