Effect of Chitosan Coating on Postharvest Quality and Shelf Life of Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba L.) At Ambient Condition

Abstract

The study was carried out at the Horticulture Laboratory of Agrotechnology Discipline, Khulna University, Khulna from December 2022 to April 2023 to investigate the effects of chitosan coating in extending the postharvest life of jujube fruits and maintaining their quality. Due to the short shelf-life of ber fruits, developing postharvest protocols incorporating chitosan coatings to extend their shelf life and maintain quality is one of the major issues regarding the ber fruit industry. The experiment consisted of four treatments with five varieties of jujube fruits and was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design with three replications for the treatments. The treatments were four levels of chitosan solution, viz. T₁ = control, T₂ = 0.1%, T₃ = 0.3%, and T₄ = 0.5% concentration, and the five varieties of jujube fruits were V₁ = Ball Sundori Kul, V₂ = Apple Kul, V₃ = Kashmiri Kul, V₄ = Thai Kul, and V₅ = Narkeli Kul. At the end of the storage period, Ball Sundori Kul coated with 0.5% chitosan showed the highest vitamin C (19.62 mg/100 g), TSS (15.13%), and TA (1.40%), while uncoated Narkeli Kul expressed the lowest highest pH (4.11) among the treatments, whereas Apple Kul contained the lowest pH with 0.3% chitosan. Again, Ball Sundori Kul coated with 0.5% chitosan coating maintained the highest total flavonoid (0.90 mg/100 g) and total anthocyanin (35.25 mg/100 g), while uncoated Thai Kul showed the lowest. The lowest disease incidence (55.00%) was recorded from Ball Sundori Kul coated with 0.5% chitosan, whereas uncoated Narkeli Kul and Thai Kul had the highest disease incidence. However, the minimum weight loss (14.33%), maximum length (52.57 cm), and breadth (40.99 cm) were recorded from Ball Sundori Kul coated with 0.5% chitosan. Colorimeter values (*L, a*, b*, c*, and h*) increased in comparison to the initial values for all varieties except c* values. The findings from the current study showed that Ball Sundori Kul covered with a 0.5% chitosan solution outperformed the other varieties regarding every desirable metric examined. Therefore, it may be recommended to store jujube fruits at room temperature using Ball Sundori Kul and a 0.5% chitosan solution.