Enhancement of Quality and Storability of Avocado (Persea americana ) Fruit using Blend of Aloe Vera Gel and Corn Starch as Surface Coating
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2019-12
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Avocado has a fairly short shelf life and is included in climacteric fruits. The search for
biodegradable, safe, healthy and environmental friendly treatments for increasing storage period
of fruits has led to the use of edible, biodegradable films or coatings. This research evaluated the
use of Aloe Vera and corn starch as bio-preservative, which are an economical and
environmentalfriendly method. The study was conducted to check the efficacy of aloe Vera gel,
corn starch and composite of the two as an edible coating so as toenhance storability of
avocado. The treatment combinations were T0 = control, T1= corn starch
(2.5%
)T2= aloe Vera
and corn starch
(2.5%, 2.5%
)and T3=Aloe Vera gel
(1%
).The physio-chemical properties,
hardness and decay percentage ofthe fruits were observed up to 25
th
day of storage.Weight loss;
pH; color; firmness; vitamin C; TA and TSS were recorded in interval of 5 days for 25 days of
storage. Aloe Vera gel and combination of the aloe Vera with corn starch coated fruits showed
minimum physiological loss in weight, minimum shrinkagepercentage, good color retention,
lesser loss in titrable acid content as compared to uncoated ones.It was also found that aloe
Vera gel subsequently helped in reducing the ripening rate of fruitswhich was found from the
slower rate of total and reducing sugar development. Aloe Vera coatingwas very effective in
reducing vitamin C loss and also helped to reduce the decay percentage.The control fruits
started deteriorating before the 8
th
days and only few fruits survived up to the 11
th
days, whereas,
storability extended to 25 days for majority of aloe Vera gel alone and with that of combined
coating film coated fruits. At the end of the storage period, uncoated avocado fruits showed
21.02% loss in weight, whereas coated avocado fruits with corn starch
(T1
) showed 16.89%,
coated avocado with aloe Vera gel
(T3
) and combination the two
(T2
)were 9.56% and 9.48% by
weight loss, respectively.The study revealed that the coating of aloe Veragel with 1% and a
combination of both with
(2.5%, 2.5%
)was effective in retaining quality of avocado fruit over a
storage period of at least 22 and 25 days respectivelyThe effect of coating with Aloe Vera gel
and corn starch on microbial count of avocado has showed significant
(p<0.05
)changes. Aloe
Vera gel was effective against plant pathogenic fungi. Both the starch and aloe Vera gel edible
coating was found good enough to ensurehardness/firmness of the fruits during storage
consequently it can be concluded that aloe Vera and corn starch are a good barriers of avocado
storage.
Description
Keywords
Aloe Vera, Avocado, corn starch, edible coating, storability, quality