The role of essential oils in maintaining the postharvest quality and preservation of peach and other fruits

Abstract

Fruits are highly susceptible to postharvest losses induced majorly by postharvest diseases. Peach are favored by consumers because of their high nutritional value and delicious taste. However, it was easy to be affected by fungal infection. The current effective method to control postharvest diseases of fruits is to use chemical fungicides, but these chemicals may cause adverse effects on human health and the residual was potentially harmful to nature and the environment. So, it is especially important to develop safe, non‐toxic, and highly effective strategies for the preservation of the fruits. Essential oil, as a class of the natural bacterial inhibitor, has been proven to exhibit strong antibacterial activity, low toxicity, environmental friendliness, and induce fruit resistance to microorganism, which could be recognized as one of the alternatives to chemical fungicides. This paper reviews the research progress of essential oils (Eos) in the storage and preservation of fruits, especially the application in peach, as well as the application in active packaging such as edible coatings, microcapsules, and electrospinning loading. Electrospinning can prepare a variety of nanofibers from different viscoelastic polymer solutions, and has broad application prospects. The paper especially summarizes the application of the new Eos technology on peach. The essential oil with thymol, eugenol, and carvacrol as the main components has a better inhibitory effect on the postharvest disease of peaches, and can be further applied. Practical applications As an environmentally friendly natural antibacterial agent, essential oil can be used as a substitute for chemical preservatives to keep fruits fresh. This paper summarizes the different preservation methods of essential oils for fruits, and especially summarizes the different preservation methods of essential oils for peaches after harvesting, as well as their inhibitory effects on pathogenic fungi. It could provide ideas for preservation of fruits and vegetables by essential oils.

Essential Oils Based Nano Formulations against Postharvest Fungal Rots

“…Plant EO's as an excellent nonhazardous, antifungal agents may be adopted as an alternate management strategy to keep perishable fruits fresh during storage. Antifungal components eugenol in clove essential oil holds excellent inhibitory effect against postharvest storage fungal rots of perishable fruits [46]. One of the important factors concerning postharvest rots management is temperature in maintaining fruit quality prolonged shelf life [47].…”

Advances in loquat post‐harvest preservation and the application of nanotechnology for its active packaging

“…In addition, the composite film provided the high CO 2 and low O 2 environment that could delay the decrease of vitamin C content (Sothornvit et al, 2010). The researchers found that natural plant essential oil has low toxicity and effective antibacterial effect, however, essential oils are highly volatile with low water solubility, and are extremely sensitive to the environment (Cao et al, 2022). In order to enhance the loquat's ability to preserve, the essential oil was encapsulated with nanoparticles, which could improve the stability and thus to enhance the bacteriostatic effect.…”

Origanum dictamnus Essential Oil in Vapour or Aqueous Solution Application for Pepper Fruit Preservation against Botrytis cinerea

“…Fresh produce preservation is still challenging and attracting the attention of researchers and application strategies on the postharvest community. The need for better fresh commodities' commercial storage/transit conditions has increased recently due to the financial costs associated with spoiling food, consumer worries regarding the safety of foods containing synthetic substances, and an increase in fresh produce consumption [1]. The challenge is to control the spread of postharvest diseases and preserve fruit quality and safety.…”

“…One advantage of EOs is their bioactivity as a volatile mean, which could make them effective fumigants for the preservation of commodities during storage [1,15,24]. Many research studies have documented the beneficial responses of EOs on the preservation of fresh produce, including strawberry (Fragaria vesca L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.), pear (Pyrus communis L.), apples (Malus domestica L.), and avocado (Persea americana L.) fruit, to name a few [1,9,11,[25][26][27][28][29]. Essential oil and/or hydrosol might trigger a defence response, by increasing defence-related enzymes and total phenolics of the fresh commodities [9,15].…”