Influence of Chitosan and Some Plant Extracts as Postharvest Treatment on Quality and Storability of Cherry Tomatoes

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Horticultural Research Institute, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research Department Egypt

2 Postharvest and Handling of Vegetable Crops Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt

Abstract

This study was carried out on cherry tomatoes cv. Katalina-522 during 2024 and 2025 seasons in Lab. of Vegetable Postharvest Research Dep., HRI, ARC, Giza, Egypt to study the impact of dipping fruits for 5 min. in olive leaves extract at 1%, rosemary extract at 1%, lemon grass extract at 1%, solution of chitosan at 1%, olive leaves extract at 1% then chitosan at 1%, rosemary extract at 1% then chitosan at 1%, lemon grass extract at 1% then chitosan at 1% in addition to untreated control (dipping in distilled water) on quality attributes and storability during storage at 10ºC and 90-95 % RH
for 35 days. The results showed that cherry tomato fruits coated with postharvest treatments were effective in decreasing weight loss, loss of firmness, color change and modifying the atmosphere inside the package, as well as preserving ascorbic acid, total phenolic content, antioxidant activity and the overall appearance of fruits during storage as comparison with untreated control. Fruits treated with rosemary extract plus chitosan, olive leaves extract plus chitosan and lemon grass extract plus chitosan treatments didn’t show noticeable decay till the end of storage. Furthermore, rosemary extract plus chitosan was the most effective treatment in maintaining all the quality attributes and gave an excellent appearance of fruits for 35 days at 10ºC, while olive leaves extract plus chitosan and lemon grass extract plus chitosan gave a good general appearance at the same period. The composition of gases inside the package treated with rosemary extract plus chitosan treatment had high O2 % and low CO2 % and lower accumulation of ethylene hence the process of ripening can be slowed dramatically prolong the storage life of fruits.

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