Effect of chitosan coating enriched with denak essential oil on ‘Navel’ orange quality infected by Penicillium digitatum

Abstract

Background Green mold, Penicillium digitatum, reduces the postharvest quality of citrus fruit as one of the most economically important horticultural crops in the world. The effect of chitosan, denak essential oil and CH + DEO was investigated on the quality of ‘Navel’ orange fruit infected by P. digitatum. Results The results showed that all treatments except DEO, CH and CH + DEO were unusable after 14 days due to decay. Fruit treated with CH and CH + DEO showed the lowest respiration rate and weight loss during storage time. Also, treated fruit had the highest total soluble solids, titratable acidity, total phenol and ascorbic acid content, and total antioxidant activity during cold storage. There was no significant difference in appearance and quality between CH and CH + DEO at the end of the storage period. Conclusions These results suggested that the coating with CH and CH + DEO can be useful for controlling decay and maintaining the quality in ‘Navel’ orange during the postharvest period.