Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Effect of edible coatings on quality and shelf life of carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) fruit during storage

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Food Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Carambola fruit have limited marketability due to high degree of perishability and higher moisture content which lead to the extensive postharvest losses. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of chitosan (CH), gum arabic (GA) and alginate (AL) coatings on the shelf life and overall quality of carambola fruit. Carambola fruit were dipped for 2 min into the solution of CH (0.3 and 0.5 %), GA (1 and 3 %) and AL (1.5 and 2 %) were stored at 26 ± 1 °C, 65–70 % RH, while the uncoated fruit served as control. Carambola fruit coated with edible coatings showed significant delay in the change of weight loss, decay percentage, titratable acidity (TA), pH, total soluble solids (TSS), sugar accumulation, pigment degradation and ascorbic acid content as compared to uncoated control fruit. In addition, the edible coatings showed a positive effect on maintaining higher concentration of total phenolics, which decreased in control fruit due to their over-ripening and senescence processes. Compared to control, all the coatings had positive effects on the inhibition of cell wall degrading enzyme activities and among them CH 0.3 % and GA 1 % had shown superiority in inhibiting the enzyme activity. After 12 days of storage, the sensory evaluation indicated that carambola fruit coated with CH 0.3 % and GA 1 % had maintained better visual quality than the other coated as well as control samples. These findings suggested that the use of CH 0.3 % and GA 1 % coatings will maintain the carambola fruit quality and lead to better acceptance by consumers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acevedo CA, López DA, Tapia MJ, Enrione J, Skurtys O, Pedreschi F, Brown DI, Creixell W, Osorio F (2012) Using RGB image processing for designating an alginate edible film. Food Bioprocess Technol 5:1511–1520

    Google Scholar 

  • Aguilar-Mendez MA, Martın-Martınez ES, Tomas SA, Cruz-Orea A, Jaime-Fonseca MR (2008) Gelatine–starch films: Physicochemical properties and their application in extending the post-harvest shelf life of avocado (Persea americana). J Sci Food Agric 88:185–193

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ali ZM, Chin L, Marimuthu M, Lazan H (2004) Low temperature storage and modified atmosphere packaging of carambola fruit and their effects on ripening related texture changes, wall modification and chilling injury symptoms. Postharvest Biol Technol 33:181–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ali A, Maqbool M, Ramachandran S, Alderson PG (2010) Gum arabic as a novel edible coating for enhancing shelf-life and improving postharvest quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit. Postharvest Biol Technol 58:42–47

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ali A, Muhammad MTM, Sijam K, Siddiqui Y (2011) Effect of chitosan coatings on the physicochemical characteristics of Eksotika II papaya (Carica papaya L.) fruit during cold storage. Food Chem 124:620–626

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson DMW, Eastwood MA (1989) The safety of gum arabic as a food additive and its energy value as an ingredient: a brief review. J Hum Nutr Dietetics 2:137–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • AOAC (1994) Official methods of analysis, 16th edn. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Virginia

    Google Scholar 

  • Artes F, Gomez PA, Artes-Hernandez F (2006) Modified atmosphere packaging of fruit and vegetables. Stewart Postharvest Rev 2:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atress ASH, El-Mogy MM, Aboul-Anean HE, Alsaniu BW (2010) Improving strawberry fruit storability by edible coating as a carrier of thymol or calcium chloride. J Hort Sci Ornamen Plants 2:88–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Bai J, Alleyne V, Hagenmaier RD, Mattheis JP, Baldwin EA (2003) Formulation of zein coatings for apple (Malus domestica Borkh). Postharvest Biol Technol 28:259–268

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bhaskar-Reddy MV, Angers P, Castaigne F, Arul J (2000) Chitosan effects on black mold rot and pathogenic factors produced by Alternaria alternate in postharvest tomatoes. J Am Soc Hortic Sci 125:742–747

    Google Scholar 

  • Biswas (1985) β-Galactosidase activity in the germinating seeds of Vigna sinensis. Phytochem 24:2831–2833

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bliss CI (1967) Statistical methods for research in the natural sciences. In: Statistics in biology, vol: 1. McGraw Hill, New York, USA, p 558

  • Bray HC, Thorpe W (1954) Analysis of phenolic compounds of interest in metabolism. Meth Biochem Anal 1:27–52

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Butler BL, Vergano PJ, Testin RF, Bunn JM, Wiles JL (1996) Mechanical and barrier properties of edible chitosan films as affected by composition and storage. J Food Sci 61:953–955

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chau CF, Chen CH, Lin CY (2004) Insoluble fiber-rich fractions derived from Averrhoa carambola: hypoglycemic effects determined by in vitro methods. LWT-Food Sci Technol 37:331–335

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Datta P, Tripathi S, Mehrotra G, Dutta J (2009) Review: perspectives for chitosan based antimicrobial films in food applications. Food Chem 114:1173–1182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Del-Valle V, Hernandez-Munoz P, Guarda A, Galotto MJ (2005) Development of a cactus mucilage edible coating (Opuntia ficus indica) and its application to extend strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) shelf-life. Food Chem 91:751–756

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Díaz-Mula HM, Serrano M, Valero D (2011) Alginate coatings preserve fruit quality and bioactive compounds during storage of sweet cherry fruit. Food Bioprocess Technol. doi:10.1007/s11947-011-0599-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Duan J, Jiang Y, Cherian G, Zhao Y (2010) Effect of combined chitosan-krill oil coating and modified atmosphere packaging on the storability of cold-stored lingcod (Ophiodon elongates) fillets. Food Chem 122:1035–1042

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • El Ghaouth A, Arul J, Asselin A, Benhamou N (1992) Antifungal activity of chitosan on postharvest pathogens induction of morphological and cytological alterations in Rhizopus stolonifer. Mycol Res 96:769–779

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • El-Anany AM, Hassan GFA, Rehab Ali FM (2009) Effects of edible coatings on the shelf- life and quality of Anna apple (Malus domestica Borkh) during cold storage. J Food Technol 7:5–11

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Elmanan M, Al-Assaf S, Philips GO, Williams PA (2008) Studies of Acacia exudates gums: Part IV. Interfacial rheology of Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal. Food Hydrocolloids 22:682–689

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez- Trujillo JP, Cano A, Artes F (2000) Interactions among cooling, fungicide and postharvest ripening temperature on peaches. Int J Refrig 23:457–465

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ghasemnezhad M, Shiri MA, Sanavi M (2010) Effect of chitosan coatings on some quality indices of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) during cold storage. Caspian J Env Sci 8:25–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Gol NB, Rao TVR (2011) Banana fruit ripening as influenced by edible coatings. Int J Fruit Sci 11:119–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-Aguilar GA, Valenzuela- Soto E, Lizardi-Mendoza J, Goycoolea F, Martinez-Tellez MA, Villegas-Ochoa MA, Monroy-Garcia I, Ayala- Zavala JF (2009) Effect of chitosan coating in preventing deterioration and preserving the quality of fresh-cut papaya ‘Maradol’. J Sci Food Agric 89:15–23

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hangermann AE, Austin PJ (1986) Continuous spectrophotometric assay for plant pectin methyl esterase. J Agric Food Chem 34:440–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoa TT, Ducamp M (2008) Effects of different coatings on biochemical changes of ‘cat Hoa loc’ mangoes in storage. Postharvest Biol Technol 48:150–152

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karim AA, Wai CC (1999) Foam-mat drying of starfruit (Averrhoa carambola L.) puree. Stability and air drying characteristics. Food Chem 64:337–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kittur F, Saroja N, Habibunnisa TR (2001) Polysaccharide based composite coating formulations for shelf extension of fresh banana and mango. Eur Food Res Technol 206:44–47

    Google Scholar 

  • Maftoonazad N, Ramaswamy HS (2005) Postharvest shelf-life extension of avocados using methyl-cellulose based coating. LWT-Food Sci Technol 38:617–624

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maftoonazad N, Ramaswamy HS, Marcotte M (2008) Shelf-life extension of peaches through sodium alginate and methyl cellulose edible coatings. Int J Food Sci Technol 43:951–957

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maqbool M, Ali A, Alderson PG, Zahid N, Siddiqui Y (2011) Effect of a novel edible composite coating based on gum arabic and chitosan on biochemical and physiological responses of banana fruit during cold storage. J Agric Food Chem 59:5474–5482

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mazumdar BC, Majumder K (2003) Methods on physico-chemical analysis of fruit. Daya Publishing House, Delhi, pp 112–116

    Google Scholar 

  • Moreira MR, Roubra SI, Ponce A (2011) Effectiveness of chitosan edible coatings to improve microbiological and sensory quality of fresh cut broccoli. LWT- Food Sci Technol 44:2335–2341

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Narain N, Bora PS, Holschuh HJ, Vascocelos MADS (2001) Physical and chemical composition of carambola fruit (Averrhoa carambola L.) at three stages of maturity. Cienc Tecnol Alimentaria 3:144–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Patel PR, Gol NB, Rao TVR (2011) Physiochemical changes in sunberry (Physalis minima L.) fruit during growth and ripening. Fruits 66:37–46

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Patil AG, Patil DA, Phatak AV, Chandra N (2010) Physical and chemical characteristics of carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) fruit at three stages of maturity. Int J Appl Biol Pharm Technol 1:624–629

    Google Scholar 

  • Pila N, Gol NB, Rao TVR (2010) Effect of post harvest treatments on physicochemical characteristics and shelf life of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) fruit during storage. Ame–Eura J Agric Environ Sci 9:470–479

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rao TVR, Gol NB, Shah KK (2011) Effect of postharvest treatments and storage temperatures on the quality and shelf life of sweet pepper (Capsicum annum L.). Sci Hortic 132:18–26

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rehman MU, Saravanan S, Mir MM, Umar I (2010) Effects of carbohydrate and protein based edible coatings on quality of strawberry during storage. SAARC J Agric 8:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Roe JH (1964) Chemical determination of ascorbic, dehydroascorbic acid and diketogluconic acids. In: Gluk D (ed) Methods of biochemical analysis, vol. 1. Interscience, New York, pp 113–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Roopa N, Chauhan OP, Raju PS, Das Gupta DK, Singh RKR, Bawa AS (2012) Process optimization for osmo-dehydrated carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) slices and its storage studies. J Food Sci Technol. doi:10.1007/s13197-012-0756-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruoyi K, Zhifang Y, Zhaoxin L (2005) Effect of coating and intermittent warming on enzymes, soluble pectin substances and ascorbic acid of Prunus persica (Cv. Zhonghuashoutao) during refrigerated storage. Food Res Int 38:331–336

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shui G, Leong LP (2006) Residue from star fruit as valuable source for functional food ingredients and antioxidant nutraceuticals. Food Chem 97:277–284

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava MK, Dwivedi UN (2000) Delayed ripening of banana fruit by salicylic acid. Plant Sci 158:87–96

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira GHA, Durigan JF, Alves RE, O’Hare TJ (2007) Use of modified atmosphere to extend shelf life of fresh-cut carambola (Averrhoa carambola L. cv. Fwang Tung). Postharvest Biol Technol 44:80–85

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Teixeira GHA, Durigan JF, Alves RE, O’Hare TJ (2008) Response of minimally processed carambola to chemical treatments and low-oxygen atmospheres. Postharvest Biol Technol 48:415–421

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tharanathan R (2003) Biodegradable films and composite coatings: past, present and future. Trends Food Sci Technol 14:71–78

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thimmaiah SK (1999) Standard methods of biochemical analysis. Kalyani Publication, New Delhi, pp 51–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomás-Barberán FA, Espín JC (2001) Phenolic compounds and related enzymes as determinants of quality in fruits and vegetables. J Sci Food Agric 81:853–876

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang ZF, Ying TJ, Bao BL, Huang XD (2005) Characteristics of fruit ripening in tomato mutant epi. J Zhejiang Univ Sci 6B:502–507

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xing Y, Li X, Xu Q, Yun J, Lu Y, Tang Y (2011) Effects of chitosan coating enriched with cinnamon oil on qualitative properties of sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). Food Chem 124:1443–1450

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yaman O, Bayoindirli L (2002) Effects of an edible coating and cold storage on shelf-life and quality of cherries. LWT-Food Sci Technol 35:146–150

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zapata PJ, Guillén F, Martínez-Romero D, Castillo S, Valero D, Serrano M (2008) Use of alginate or zein as edible coatings to delay postharvest ripening process and to maintain tomato (Solanum lycopersicon Mill) quality. J Sci Food Agric 88:1287–1293

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou R, Li Y, Yan L, Xie J (2011) Effect of edible coatings on enzymes, cellmembrane integrity, and cell-wall constituents in relation to brittleness and firmness of Huanghua pears (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai, cv. Huanghua) during storage. Food Chem 124:569–575

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to the Head, B. R. Doshi School of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University, Gujarat, India for providing necessary facilities for carrying out this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. B. R. Doshi School of Biosciences, Sardar Patel University, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 388 120, Gujarat, India

    Neeta B. Gol, Manu L. Chaudhari & T. V. Ramana Rao

Authors
  1. Neeta B. Gol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Manu L. Chaudhari
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T. V. Ramana Rao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. V. Ramana Rao.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Table 1

Statistical analysis table for all the parameters (DOC 40 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gol, N.B., Chaudhari, M.L. & Rao, T.V.R. Effect of edible coatings on quality and shelf life of carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) fruit during storage. J Food Sci Technol 52, 78–91 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-013-0988-9

Download citation

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-013-0988-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation