STORAGE STABILITY ASSESSMENT OF APPLE (MALUS DOMESTICA L.) IN RESPONSE TO DIFFERENT EDIBLE COATINGS

Post-harvest losses remain a major constraint affecting the marketability of the fresh apples. The present study was undertaken to check the efficacy of various edible coating formulations in storage stability assessment of apple fruits. The fruits were coated with gelatin-Aloe vera, chitosan-carnauba wax, and Fomesa wax at different levels. Coated Fruits along with uncoated fruits as control were kept at ambient temperature (25 ± 1 °C) and subsequently evaluated for their physico-chemical & physiological attributes at regular intervals. The vital quality parameters, such as weight loss, surface fracture, firmness, colorimetric values, pH, total soluble solids, titratable acidity ascorbic acid, total phenolics, total flavonoids, DPPH radical scavenging activity, respiration rate, and ethylene production were determined during the course of three months. The control fruits showed rapid deterioration and poor storage stability as compared to coated fruits. Coated fruits delayed the onset of senescence at varying degrees during storage. Overall results showed Fomesa Wax application found to be premium choice due to optimal shelf life extended upto 90 Days. Fruits coated with Fomesa wax effectively preserved fruit firmness (6.95 N), colour characteristics (L*75.02, a*11.22,b*21.45), titratable acidity (0.7 %), total soluble solids (12.72 ^obrix) and Radical scavenging activity (46.64 %) . It also maintained lowest weight loss (3.56 %), respiration rate (20.68 mg CO₂ kg⁻¹ s⁻¹) and ethylene production (9.02 µLC₂H₄ kg⁻¹ h⁻¹) till the end of storage. In addition, considerable retention of above mentioned physico-chemical attributes were also found in chitosan-carnauba wax and gelatin-aloe vera coated fruits which stayed edible upto 84 Days. The extended storage life in coated fruits is attributed to their associated barrier properties which reduced weight loss, respiration rate and ethylene production. Edible coating application is found to be low-cost, environmentally friendly and can easily be disseminated at farmer-door steps to reduce post harvest losses.