The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of salicylic acid (SA), Aloe vera gel (AV), and SA + AV on quality parameters of strawberry over 15 days. Weight loss, decay, and firmness increased, while ascorbic acid (AAC), total anthocyanin (TAC), total phenolic (TPC) contents, total antioxidant activity (TAA), and sensory attributes decreased significantly during the storage time in all samples. All treatments suppressed water loss, decay, and firmness and maintained higher AAC, TAA, and TPC compared to the control. AAC loss followed a first‐order kinetic model, but TPC and TAC loss followed a zero‐order kinetic until day 5 or 10 and a first‐order reaction until the end of storage. Most of the recorded quality attributes were better preserved in the SA + AV samples, followed by the AV and then the SA treatments. The data of this study confirmed that the postharvest application of 1 mM SA + AV can improve the quality attributes of strawberry during storage.
Practical applications
As strawberry is mainly lost during the postharvest period, it is important to take proper strategies to overcome this problem. The results of the present study showed that the coating of the strawberry fruit with AV + SA (especially at 1 mM) retained fruit firmness, AAC, TPC, sensory attributes, and TAA and delayed strawberry decay as well. Besides, the function of AV in keeping the quality parameters of the strawberry fruit was better than that of SA. When SA is to be used as a postharvest treatment, 2 mM SA might give better results in the retention of AAC, TAC, and TPC, and 1 mM SA might give fruits with more firmness and less decay. The results of this study showed that strawberry is a good source of AAC (276.35 mg/100 g) and TPC (1,146.69 mg gallic acid equivalent/100 g) that declined to 186 and 480 mg/100 g, respectively, in the control sample after 15 days of storage, which were still high values. Meanwhile, in the samples treated with 1 mM SA + AV, AAC and TPC were 240 and 758.54 mg/100 g after 15 days of storage, respectively. In conclusion, the use of SA and AV, either alone or particularly in combination, may enhance the health aspects of strawberry through retaining AAC and TPC and therefore, increasing TAA of strawberry and also, maintaining a lower rate of weight and firmness loss.
