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. 2020 Mar 11;57(8):3004–3012. doi: 10.1007/s13197-020-04333-5

Preserving postharvest storage quality of fresh loquat fruits by using different bio-materials

İbrahim Kahramanoğlu 1,✉
PMCID: PMC7316908  PMID: 32624603

Abstract

Loquat fruits are known to have high nutritional contents and phytochemicals which are attributed with its health benefits. However, its storage life is reported to be very limited which negatively affect its marketability and consumption. Present study aimed to investigate the influence of seven different bio-materials or the combination of bio-materials on the postharvest life and storage quality of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) fruits var. ‘Morphitiki’. The tested bio-materials or the combinations of current works was (1) OFI—Oputia ficus-indica extract; (2) OFI + Ns—Oputia ficus-indica extract + Nigella sativa oil; (3) OFI + PEx—Oputia ficus-indica extract + propolis extract; (4) OFI + C—Oputia ficus-indica extract + cinnamon oil; (5) Ns—Nigella sativa oil; (6) PEx—propolis extract and (7) CcEx—Chrysanthemum coronarium flower extract. As expected, weight loss showed an increasing tendency during storage period. Results showed that all of the tested bio-materials were effective in maintaining the postharvest quality of loquat fruits by reducing weight loss, positively affecting fruit firmness, preventing fruit browning and reducing decay incidence. Results suggested that loquat fruits can be stored with an acceptable quality for up to 35 days at 4 ± 1 °C and 95% relative humidity conditions, when treated with 0.5% Nigella sativa oil (Ns) or 0.5% propolis extract (PEx).

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1007/s13197-020-04333-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Keywords: Browning index, Chrysanthemum coronarium flower extract, Nigella sativa oil, Opuntia ficus indica extract, Propolis extract and weight loss

Introduction

Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) fruits are very good source of photochemical such as carotenoids and flavonoids (Shaw and Wilson 1981); and are known to highly appreciated by consumers for its health benefits and nice flavour. Eriobotrya japonica is a unique and economically cultivated species in its genus. It blooms in late autumn and early winter, and the young fruits are vulnerable to suffer from low temperature in cold winter (Akhtar et al. 2010; Gündeşli et al. 2019). However, the postharvest life of loquat fruits is very short due to microbial decay, weight loss, browning and nutritional loss at ambient temperatures (Zheng et al. 2000). Low temperatures (5 to 7 °C) were reported to reduce postharvest losses and extend storage duration, however reduced temperatures increases the susceptibility to chilling injury. Storage of loquat fruits is limited to about 5 weeks (Shan et al. 2008). Internal and external browning with firm and juiceless texture are the most important symptoms of chilling injury in loquat. Previous studies showed that heat water treatment (Zhang et al. 2016) and application of some coating materials, i.e. chitosan might induce the occurrence of chilling injury (Cai et al. 2011; Ghasemnezhad et al. 2011; Song et al. 2016; Adetunji et al. 2018). Chilling injury (CI) reduces the quality and marketability of not only the loquat fruits but other susceptible fruits to CI.

Besides to CI, the other important factors which influence the postharvest quality of fruits are weight loss and pathogens. Use of fungicides is the most widely used technology for the prevention of postharvest pathogens, but due to its possible negative effects on human health and environment, its acceptability is decreasing throughout the world (Sharma et al. 2009). The demand of the consumers is changing and consumers are asking free of chemical residues and paying more attention to fresh fruit safety (Cordenunsi et al. 2003). Current studies in postharvest biology and technology focuses on the use of bio-materials for the improvement of the storage quality of fruits (Silvestre et al. 2011). The use of eco-friendly substances and emergent technologies provide promising results for the improvement of the postharvest quality of the fruits. Some of the successful alternatives to chemical use are chitosan (Gutiérrez-Martínez et al. 2018; Adiletta et al. 2018; Tesfahun, 2018), essential oils (Pavela and Benelli 2016; Hassanein et al. 2018), plant extracts (Gatto et al. 2016), salts (Vilaplana et al. 2018), acids (Jiang et al. 2015) and edible coatings (Saucedo-Pompa et al. 2009). Extracts of Opuntiaficus-indica (Allegra et al. 2016; Gheribia et al. 2018), propolis extract (Özdemir et al. 2010), black seed oil (Kahramanoğlu et al. 2018), cinnamon oil (Black-Solis et al. 2019) and combinations of different bio-materials (Chen et al. 2018; Shi et al. 2018) are reported to positively impact the postharvest life of some fruits but not been tested in loquat fruits. Therefore, present study aimed to investigate the effects of different bio-materials (Opuntia ficus-indica extracts, Nigella sativa oil, propolis extract, cinnamon oil and extracts of Chrysanthemum coronarium flowers) on the postharvest quality of loquat fruits to enable the postharvest storage of loquat fruits by using generally recognized as safe (GRAS), eco-friendly materials.

Materials and methods

Fruit material

Fruit materials (loquat var. ‘Morphitiki’) of present study were hand-collected from a commercial plantation located in Yeşilırmak, Lefke province in Northern Cyprus at commercial maturity (mid of April) based on skin colour (fully yellow-orange) in 2019. Fruits were kept in plastic baskets and transferred to laboratory in 2 h.

Experimental materials

Four different edible coating materials, one dose of propolis extract, one dose of Nigella sativa oil, one dose of Chrysanthemum coronarium extract and a control treatment were tested in present study. The edible coating materials of present study were prepared from the mucilage of cactus pear (Oputiaficus-indica (L.) Mill.) by modifying the method developed by Allegra et al. (2016). The material was tested alone and with combination of some other natural compounds. First of all, cladodes of cactus pear were hand-collected from a cactus pear orchard located in Yayla, Güzelyurt in Northern Cyprus at the beginning of April 2019. The cladodes were cut and cubed to about 2 cm3. Furthermore, the cubed materials were crushed in a blender to extract the mucilage, and then homogenized with distilled water in the ratio 1:1.5 (w/v) at 20 °C. After that, the solution was kept at 40 °C for 90 min and centrifuged at 3,000 rpm for 20 min. The obtained supernatant was then boiled until to half the initial volume. Then, ethanol (99% v/v) was added to the remaining supernatant in the ratio of 1:2 (v/v). The obtained solution was stored at 4 ± 1 °C for 48 h. Hereafter, the obtained solution was tested as an edible coating for the preservation of the postharvest quality of loquat fruits. The obtained edible coating was tested as three forms, (1) alone (OFI), (2) as a combination with 0.5% (3) Nigella sativa oil (OFI + Ns), as a combination with 0.5% propolis extract (OFI + PEx) and (4) as a combination with 0.5% cinnamon oil (OFI + C). For this treatment, 100% pure cinnamon oil was purchased from local shops and added to the OFI in the ratio of 0.5:100 (v/v). The Nigella sativa oil (100% pure) of present study was purchased from a Pelmur Ltd. with the brand name Biotama. The extraction method for the oil was cold pressing of Nigella sativa seeds. To obtain the OFI + Ns material, the Nigella sativa oil was added to the OFI in the ratio of 0.5:100 (v/v). The Nigella sativa oil (Ns) was also tested alone in present study by dissolving 100% pure oil in ethanol (70%) in a ratio of 1:9 and agitating for 1 day. The 0.5% Ns solution was then prepared by making a dilution of the final solution with pure water (Kahramanoğlu et al. 2018). Crude propolis of present study was collected from Bağlıköy village, Lefke province in Northern Cyprus. Preparation of the propolis extract was handled according the method described by Kahramanoğlu et al. (2018). The propolis extract was both tested with OFI and alone (PEx) with a rate of 0.5%. Apart from the above mentioned six treatments, one more edible coating material was prepared from the flowers of Chrysanthemum coronarium (CcEx). Total 200 flowers (200 g) were collected from Yayla village, added to distilled water in a ratio of 1:10 (w/v) and kept at 80 °C for 3 h. After that, the solution was filtered through a Whatman 4 filter paper and ethanol (99% v/v) was added to the remaining supernatant in the ratio of 1:10 (v/v). A total of seven different treatments with a control application of distilled water were tested in present study.

Experimental methodology

Fruits were firstly selected and graded to ensure uniform size and colour, as well as to eliminate the fruits with visual defects. Next, the fruits were randomly divided into eight groups (number of different treatments) of 120 fruit in each of the four replications. Thus the fruit groups were subjected to the following treatments: (1) OFI, (2) OFI + Ns, (3) OFI + PEx, (4) OFI + C, 5) Ns, (6) PEx, (7) CcEx and (8) Control. The application of all treatments was performed by immersing of the fruits into the mentioned treatments at 21 ± 1 °C for 10 min. After immersion, all fruits were air dried for about 30 min, and transferred to the storage conditions of 4 ± 1 °C and 95% relative humidity. Studies were continued for 42 d and total of 20 fruits was taken out from each replication with 7-d intervals (7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 d) to measure the quality characteristics. Most of the previous studies tested for 35–40 d with 5/7-day intervals (Song et al. 2016; Zhang et al. 2016).

Data collection

To enable the calculation of the weight loss, initial weights of all fruits were measured at the beginning of the experiments. Fruit weights were then measured at every 7 d during storage and the weight loss (%) was calculated by using the initial fruit weights. All measurements, except chilling injury was performed right after storage period, where chilling injury was observed 1 day after keeping at room temperatures (24 ± 1 °C). Digital scale (± 0.01 g) was used for fruit weight determination. Fruit firmness (kg cm−2) was determined by a hand penetrometer (with a 5 mm diameter probe at a speed of 1 mm s−1). Four distinct locations (around the equatorial region) of each fruit were used to measure fruit firmness. Determination of the soluble solids concentration (SSC) of the fruit juice was performed with a hand refractometer and measured as % Brix. Titratable acidity (TA) of fruit juice determined with the method of AOAC (1990) by dissolving fruit juice in distilled water in a ratio of 10:50 (ml of v/v). The solution was titrated with 0.1 N NaOH to an endpoint of pH 8.1 and the following formula was used to calculate the TA as g/100 g of malic acid:

TAg/100gmalicacid=mLofNaOHused×0.0064mLofsampleused×100

The SSC and TA values were then used to calculate SSC/TA ratios. The severity of chilling injury (CI) during the storage was determined with the browning index (BI) according the method of Rui et al. (2010). The browning area of the flesh of all fruits from each treatment was evaluated according to the 0–4 scale. The description of the scale is as 0 represents excellent fruits with no browning; 1 equals to slight browning (less than < 5%); 2 represents moderate browning (5–25%); 3 used for moderately severe browning (25–50%); and 4 represents severe browning (> 50%). The BI index was then calculated using the following formula: BI index = {∑[(BI scale)  ×  (number of fruit at that BI)]}/(4 × total number of fruit in each treatment). The fruits with a BI index of 0.4 or higher were considered as unacceptable for consumers as suggested by Ghasemnezhad et al. (2011). Decay Incidence (DI) was observed according to the four-point scale formula of Cao et al. (2011). All fruits of each replication were visually evaluated according to the scale where 0 referred no decay, 1 equalled to slight decay (≤ 25%), 2 mentioned moderate decay (25% < 50%) and 3 referred severe decay (> 50%). After scoring the fruits according to above given scale, following formula was used to calculate Decay Incidence. DI = {[(1 × N1) + (2 × N2) + (3 × N3)] × 100 / (3 × N)}. In this formula, N represents the total number of fruit measured and N1, N2 and N3 were used to indicate the numbers of fruit showing the different severities of decay.

Data analysis

Studies were performed with a completely randomized design with 4 replications. The effects of the above mentioned treatments on the quality parameters of loquats were determined by subjecting the data to analysis of variance (ANOVA). The SPSS 22.0 was used for the analysis and separation of the mean was performed with Tukey’s (HSD) multiple range test at P = 0.05. The comparisons of the treatments were performed separately for all storage duration.

Results and Discussions

Weight loss

According to the results of present study, all of the tested seven treatments are effective in reducing the weight loss of loquat fruits. However, the effects of these bio-materials were found to significantly vary (Fig. 1). Seven days after the treatments, the highest weight loss was noted from control treatment with 4.19% and is followed by the OFI + Ns with 1.87%. On the other hand, PEx and Ns treatments were found to have only 0.75% and 0.76%, respectively, weight loss. The difference between the tested treatments was found to be similar in the coming weeks. However, the efficacy of the treatments other than Ns was found to decrease and the weight loss of the fruits treated with those treatments was increased. Although the efficacy of other treatments decreased, the calculated weight loss was less than the control treatment. As expected, weight loss showed an increasing tendency during storage period. At the end of the experiments (42 days after storage), the highest weight loss was measured from control treatment with 26.47% and the lowest weight loss was from Ns treatment with only 10.43%.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

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Effects of some bio-materials on the weight loss of loquat fruits during 42 days of storage. (OFI: Oputia ficus-indica extract; OFI + Ns: Oputia ficus-indica extract + Nigella sativa oil; OFI + PEx: Oputia ficus-indica extract + propolis extract; OFI + C: Oputia ficus-indica extract + cinnamon oil; Ns: Nigella sativa oil; PEx: propolis extract and CcEx: Chrysanthemum coronarium extract. Values followed by the same letter or letters within the same storage time are not significantly different according to Tukey’s HSD test at P ≤ 0.05)

Fruit firmness

For many of the fruits, a higher firmness level indicates freshness, but this is not true for loquat fruits. As shown in Fig. 2, fruit firmness increased continuously corresponding to the decline of fruit weight and increase in browning index. Fruit firmness was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower at the fruits treated with Ns and is followed by the PEx treatment. Control fruits were found to have the highest fruit firmness. However, the decreasing and increasing trends were similar in both treatments during the different storage periods. Fruit firmness is an important characteristic for the fruit quality.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 2

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Effects of some bio-materials on the fruit firmness of loquat fruits during 42 days of storage. (OFI: Oputia ficus-indica extract; OFI + Ns: Oputia ficus-indica extract + Nigella sativa oil; OFI + PEx: Oputia ficus-indica extract + propolis extract; OFI + C: Oputia ficus-indica extract + cinnamon oil; Ns: Nigella sativa oil; PEx: propolis extract and CcEx: Chrysanthemum coronarium extract. Values followed by the same letter or letters within the same storage time are not significantly different according to Tukey’s HSD test at P ≤ 0.05)

Soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) and SSC/TA

Results of present study showed that the soluble solids content (SSC) is about 10% Brix from the first day of experiment till the end of 14 days of storage. After that period, SSC of all treatments were found to have an increasing tendency. On the other hand, it was found that the treatments have a significant influence on the fruit SSC. At the end of the experiments, the highest SSC was measured from the control treatment and the lowest from the Ns treatment. SSC is a measure of the dry matter percentage of fruits, thus changes in total volume is highly influencing the fruit SSC. Titratable acidity (TA) was 0.98 g 100 ml−1 malic acid at the beginning of the experiment and it started to decrease until the 21th day of the storage. However, after 28th day of storage, the TA of the treatments began to increase and at the end of the experiment, it reached to higher level than the initial. Before 21th day of the experiment, the highest TA was noted from the Ns and PEx treatments; but after that period, the TA of other treatments increase rapidly than the Ns and PEx treatments, and these treatments found to have lowest TA values.

Results of present study showed that the SSC/TA showed increasing tendency during the first 21 days of storage and then it began to decrease (Fig. 3). According to the SSC/TA ratio of current work, the fruits treated with Ns and PEx were more favourable for the consumers until 28 days of storage. After that period, mainly due to the changes in TA, fruits of other treatments were found to have lower SSC/TA ratio. However, the fruits had very high weight loss, high fruit firmness and browning index; and they were not favourable for consumers.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

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Effects of some bio-materials on the SSC/TA of loquat fruits during 42 days of storage. (OFI: Oputia ficus-indica extract; OFI + Ns: Oputia ficus-indica extract + Nigella sativa oil; OFI + PEx: Oputia ficus-indica extract + propolis extract; OFI + C: Oputia ficus-indica extract + cinnamon oil; Ns: Nigella sativa oil; PEx: propolis extract and CcEx: Chrysanthemum coronarium extract. Values followed by the same letter or letters within the same storage time are not significantly different according to Tukey’s HSD test at P ≤ 0.05)

Browning index and decay incidence

Results of present study showed that the application of Ns, OFI + C, PEx and CcEx are effective in controlling fruit browning and keeping it below 0.40 for 35 days of storage. At the end of the experiments (42 days after storage), the lowest browning index was noted from the Ns treated fruits with a BI of 0.231 and the other treatments were found to have higher BI values than 0.40 (Fig. 4). Fruit decay is an important problem for the postharvest storage and marketing of fruit crops. In present study, all of the tested bio-materials were found to be effective in controlling fruit decay. At the 42nd day of storage, the control treatment was found to have around 51.61% decay and is followed by CcEx and OFI with 38.75% and 38.23%, respectively (Fig. 5). The highest efficacy was noted from the Ns application where the decay incidence in 42 days of storage was only 10.42%.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 4

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Effects of some bio-materials on the browning index of loquat fruits during 42 days of storage. (OFI: Oputia ficus-indica extract; OFI + Ns: Oputia ficus-indica extract + Nigella sativa oil; OFI + PEx: Oputia ficus-indica extract + propolis extract; OFI + C: Oputia ficus-indica extract + cinnamon oil; Ns: Nigella sativa oil; PEx: propolis extract and CcEx: Chrysanthemum coronarium extract. Values followed by the same letter or letters within the same storage time are not significantly different according to Tukey’s HSD test at P ≤ 0.05)

Fig. 5.

Fig. 5

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Effects of some bio-materials on the decay incidence of loquat fruits during 42 days of storage. (OFI: Oputia ficus-indica extract; OFI + Ns: Oputia ficus-indica extract + Nigella sativa oil; OFI + PEx: Oputia ficus-indica extract + propolis extract; OFI + C: Oputia ficus-indica extract + cinnamon oil; Ns: Nigella sativa oil; PEx: propolis extract and CcEx: Chrysanthemum coronarium extract. Values followed by the same letter or letters within the same storage time are not significantly different according to Tukey’s HSD test at P ≤ 0.05)

Discussions

Results of present study showed that all of the tested bio-materials are effective in reducing the weight loss of loquat fruits. The total weight loss of control fruits in 42 days is similar with the findings of Song et al. (2016) who reported about 27% of weight loss in 40 days of storage. Extracts of Opuntia ficus-indica were previously tested on different fruits by some researchers (Allegra et al. 2016; Gheribia et al. 2018) and found to be effective in controlling the weight loss. In present study, when compared with control treatment, OFI, OFI + Ns, OFI + PEx and OFI + C were also found to be effective when comparing with control treatment, but their efficacy is far below from the Ns and PEx treatments. Results also showed that adding propolis extract, Nigella sativa oil or cinnamon oil to the Opuntia ficus-indica extract improves the efficacy. However, the highest efficacy was noted from Ns and is followed by PEx. These two materials were previously tested on different crops and reported to have similar positive effects (Özdemir et al. 2010; Kahramanoğlu et al. 2018). On the other hand, the effect of CcEx on the weight loss is underestimated. At the end of the experiments, it was found to have similar effect on the weight loss with PEx. According to the Authors knowledge, it is the first to test the postharvest influence of Chrysanthemum coronarium extract. The overall results about the efficacy of the bio-materials on the postharvest weight loss of loquat fruits are in conjunction with some other previous studies, who reported that bio-materials prevent weight loss of fruits (Saucedo-Pompa et al. 2009; Özdemir et al. 2010; Gatto et al. 2016; Allegra et al. 2016; Adiletta et al. 2018; Gheribia et al. 2018; Kahramanoğlu et al. 2018).

The results about the fruit firmness in present study were found to be in conjunction with the weight loss results, suggesting that the use of Ns and PEx have positive effects on the loquat fruit quality. When comparing with the control treatment, other bio-materials of present study were also found to have significant influence on the fruit firmness, showing the positive effects of the test materials. Song et al. (2017) noted that lignin contents and fruit firmness of loquat fruits have an increasing tendency during storage and both are the typical symptoms of chilling injury (browning) of loquat fruits. The increase in fruit firmness was reported to be because of cell expansion, cell proliferation and cell-wall secondary lignification (Cao et al. 2010). The increase in lignin improves the rigidity of cell-wall, resulting in increase in fruit firmness due to the close connection between cellulose polymers and carbohydrate (Zhao and Dixon 2011). Thus, the increase in fruit firmness with less extractable juice reduces the attractiveness of consumers (Cai et al. 2006). In present study, SSC was found to be closely related with the fruits’ weight loss. According to Dris and Niskanen (1999) the fruits with high water loss might have higher dry matter content.

SSC, TA and SSC/TA are very important parameters for the quality determination of stored fruits. In general, SSC of the control fruits was found to be higher than other treatments, especially Ns and PEx. Titratable acidity (TA) is an estimate of organic acids for fruits and according to Petriccione et al. (2015) the main acid for loquat fruits is malic acid. TA results of the control fruits are in agreement with the findings of the Öz et al. (2016). The ratio of SSC/TA is an important parameter for fruit flavour and it is known that the lower ratio of SSC/TA is more favourable for the consumers (Petriccione et al. 2015). Results showed that all treatments, but mainly Ns and PEx treatments may limit the senescence of loquats. The results of present study are in conjunction with the results of Öz et al. (2016) who noted that SSC/TA of loquat fruits increase in storage for about 24 days and then it began to decrease.

Fruit browning is known as a serious problem for postharvest storage of loquat fruits and it reduces its commercial value (Pareek et al. 2014). It is important to reduce the storage temperatures to prevent fruit deterioration and weight loss of loquat fruits, as in many of the fruits, but low temperatures also cause chilling injury symptoms in manly fruits including loquat. Tissue leatheriness, internal and external browning and increased fruit firmness are the main signs of chilling injury in loquat fruits (Cai et al. 2011; Song et al. 2016). Results of present study showed that the application of Ns, OFI + C, PEx and CcEx are effective in controlling fruit browning and keeping it below 0.40 for 35 days of storage. Use of polyethylene film bags (Ding et al. 2002) and chitosan application (Petriccione et al. 2015) were previously reported to improve chilling tolerance of loquat fruits and researchers reported that application of bio-materials might be a promising approach for postharvest loquat storage (Petriccione et al. 2015). Application of polyamines, methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid and 1-MCP were also previously noted to reduce browning index of loquat fruits (Zheng et al. 2000; Cao et al. 2010; Cai et al. 2011). However, according to Authors knowledge no previous studies conducted about the postharvest influence of OFI, Ns, PEx or CcEx bio-materials on the storage quality of loquat fruits. Finally, bio-materials of present study were effective in controlling fruit decay. At the 42nd day of storage, the control treatment was found to have around 51.61% decay and is followed by CcEx and OFI with 38.75% and 38.23%, respectively. The highest efficacy was noted from the Ns application where the decay incidence in 42 days of storage was only 10.42%. Similar positive effect of Ns on the control of fruit decay was previously reported by Kahramanoğlu et al. (2018) on pomegranate fruits.

Conclusion

Based on the study results, the tested bio-materials were all found to have positive effects on the postharvest quality and storage life of loquat fruits. Results suggested that loquat fruits can be stored with an acceptable quality for up to 35 days at 4 ± 1 °C and 95% relative humidity conditions, when treated with 0.5% Nigella sativa oil (Ns) or 0.5% propolis extract (PEx). The extract of C. coronarium flowers (CcEx) was also found to be promising for the future studies and higher doses of C. coronarium flower extracts would provide better performance for maintaining the postharvest quality of fruits, not only loquats. The Oputia ficus-indica extracts (OFI) either alone or in combination with other materials were found to have moderate effect. The improvement in the influence of OFI with cinnamon oil made it possible to suggest that the cinnamon oil alone would be used for the preservation of the postharvest quality of fruits. As a concluding remark, Nigella sativa oil, propolis extract and cinnamon oil are effective in maintaining postharvest fruit quality and different doses of these bio-materials are suggested to be tested not only on loquat fruits, but on different fruits.

Electronic supplementary material

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