Edible coating based on red pitahaya peel (Hylocereus undatus) and orange essential oil (Citrus sinensis) in the post-harvest handling of papaya (Carica papaya)

Abstract

Postharvest losses can reach up to 50% of production, becoming one of the main and most serious problems in this sector; many Ecuadorian companies lose international competitiveness, due to the lack of knowledge of how to comply with the demands and regulations of the demanding fruit markets. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of an edible coating based on red pitahaya peel and orange essential oil for postharvest handling of papaya. For which a Completely Random Distribution (DCA) has been used, where five repetitions have been carried out for each of the treatments or factorial combinations. This allowed to have a first experiment of 30 experimental units, made up of 15 g of the sample with the coating. The pectin sample extracted from the pitahaya peel obtained 4.31% of methoxyl, said result being less than 7%, while the degree of esterification, which was obtained, was 70.2%, which indicates that there is no significant deterioration in pectin. The applied formulations that had less weight loss were 4% pectin (T5) and 4% pectin plus 2% orange oil (T6) showing a loss of approximately 5% of their weight on the third day until reaching close to the 30% at day 15. In the analysis of the useful life time, an absence of absence (<10 cfu /g) of mesophilic aerobes, molds and yeasts was evidenced at 5, 10 and 15 days of cold storage, therefore their life useful is estimated to be at least 15 days.