Tomato is very popular fruit and a good source of vitamins and minerals to the diet which provide health benefits. Chitosan, deacetylated product of chitin is the versatile reagent owing to its biocompatibility, biodegradability and no side effect on human body. Aloe vera gel obtained from sqeezing of clear jelly like substance of the parenchyma tissue of Aloe vera leaves. The aim of our work was to evaluate the effect of Aloe vera gel based chitosan coating on the physico-chemical characteristics as well as its role in controlling microbial damage to tomato. Freshly harvested tomato fruits were coated with Aloe vera (50%), chitosan (2.0%) and chitosan : Aloe vera gel (1:1) and were stored at room temperature (23.5 ± 10 C, 65 ± 2% RH). The physico-chemical parameters and microbial load were studied for a period of 18 days. Physical (fruit size), chemical (PH, titrable acidity and total dissolved solid), sensory characteristics (color, test and firmness) and fungal attack were analyzed at a regular interval of 2 days. The preserved tomatoes maintained their characteristic quality for 3, 7, 12 days when it is uncoated, coated with Aloe vera and chitosan respectively but in case of Aloe vera gel-chitosan coated tomato, it is 18 days. The overall results showed that the superiority of Aloe vera gel-chitosan coating could be a good alternative technique to maintain the physico-chemical characteristics as well as to protect microbial spoilage of tomato during storage period.

Effectiveness of Aloe vera gel based chitosan coating for maintaining physico-chemical characteristics of tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum)

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.