Application of antioxidants and hot water treatments to improve shelf life of fresh-cut eggplants (Solanum melongena L.) during storage

DIEGO RICARDO GUTIERREZ; MARIA LAURA LEMOS; MARIANA JUDITH FARIAS; SILVIA DEL CARMEN RODRÍGUEZ

Revista Facultad Nacional de Agronomía Medellín

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Lugar: Medellin; Año: 2023

0304-2847

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of antioxidant treatments on the conservationof cut eggplants (Solanum melongena L.), which was carried out in two stages. Initially, the effectof citric acid (CA), ascorbic acid (AA) and cysteine (Cys) solution at 0.5 and 1% on sensoryattributes (general appearance and browning), and color parameters during storage were evaluated.Immersion in 1% AA was considered the best antioxidant since it maintained visual quality for 6days. Subsequently, hot water dipping (HWD) treatments followed by the 1% AA solution wereevaluated and optimized through the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Sensory attributes,color parameters, respiration rate (RR), phenolic compounds (PhC), antioxidant capacity, as wellas the activity of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) were assessed during coldstorage. The results showed that HWD at 50 °C, 60 s and 1% AA was the optimal combination tocontrol enzymatic browning and extend its fresh quality for up to 8 days. Furthermore, thatcombination of treatments reduced the PPO and POD activities and increased the PhC comparedto the control (untreated), not finding significant differences between them in antioxidant capacityand RR. Therefore, the application of this combination would be the most appropriate to preservethe quality of the fresh-cut eggplants for 8 days of storage at 4 °C.