Journal Article

Combined application of hot water treatment and eucalyptus leaf extract postpones seneṣcence in harvested green chilies by conserving their antioxidants: a sustainable approach

Arslan, Muhammad, Nafees, Muhammad, Iqbal, Rashid, Elshikh, Mohamed S., Ali, Sajid, Azeem, Farrukh, Haider, Muhammad Wasim, Gaafar, Abdel-Rhman Z., Asad, Habat Ullah, Rahman, Muhammad Habib Ur

2023

Overview

Background Green chili is the predominant vegetable in tropical and subtropical regions with high economic value. However, after harvest, it exhibits vigorous metabolic activities due to the high moisture level, leading to a reduction in bioactive compounds and hence reduced shelf life and nutritional quality. Low temperature storage results in the onset of chilling injury symptoms. Therefore, developing techniques to increase the shelf life of green chilies and safeguard their nutritional value has become a serious concern for researchers. In this regard, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of the alone or combined application of hot water treatment (HWT) (45 °C for 15 min) and eucalyptus leaf extract (ELE) (30%) on 'Golden Hot' chilies in comparison to the control. After treatment, chilies were stored at 20 ± 1.5 °C for 20 days. Results HWT + ELE-treated chilies had a significant reduction in fruit weight loss (14.6%), fungal decay index (35%), red chili percentage (41.2%), soluble solid content (42.9%), ripening index (48.9%), and reactive oxygen species production like H 2 O 2 (55.1%) and O −2 (46.5%) during shelf in comparison to control, followed by the alone application of HWT and ELE. Furthermore, the combined use of HWT and ELE effectively improved the antioxidative properties of stored chilies including DPPH radical scavenging activities (54.6%), ascorbic acid content (28.4%), phenolic content (31.8%), as well as the enzyme activities of POD (103%), CAT (128%), SOD (26.5%), and APX (43.8%) in comparison to the control. Additionally, the green chilies underwent HWT + ELE treatment also exhibited higher chlorophyll levels (100%) and general appearance (79.6%) with reduced anthocyanin content (40.8%) and wrinkling (43%), leading to a higher marketable fruit (41.3%) than the control. Conclusion The pre-storage application of HWT and ELE could be used as an antimicrobial, non-chemical, non-toxic, and eco-friendly treatment for preserving the postharvest quality of green chilies at ambient temperature (20 ± 1.5 °C).

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Agriculture / Ambient temperature / Anthocyanins / Antioxidants / Ascorbic acid / Bioactive compounds / Biocompatibility / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Capsicum annum L / Chemical properties / Chlorophyll / cold storage / Commodities / Decay / DPPH scavenging activities / economic valuation / ELE / Environment friendly / Enzymatic activity / enzymes / Eucalyptus / Food / Food conservation / fruit weight / Fruits / fungi / Hot water / hot water treatment / HWT / Hydrogen peroxide / leaf extracts / Leaves / Life Sciences / Low temperature / Materia medica, Vegetable / Methods / Nutritive value / Oils & fats / Peppers / Phenols / Plant extracts / Plant Sciences / Postharvest management / Production processes / Protection and preservation / Reactive oxygen species / Reduction / Respiration / Ripening / Scavenging / Senescence / Shelf life / Sustainable Agriculture / Thermal properties / total soluble solids / Tree Biology / vegetables / water content / Water treatment / Weight loss