Authors Mohammadi, L.; Ramezanian, A.; Tanaka, F.; Tanaka, F.
Peach is a climacteric fruit which sustains quick ripening after harvesting due to the high respiration rate and weight loss, texture change, and internal browning. Rapid softening of the fruit and following mold growth lead to negative impact in marketing. Several methods have been proposed in order to expand the shelf life of peach such as heat treatment, UV-B radiation, 1- methycyclopropene , modified atmosphere packing , chemical treatments , and edible coating . Recently, food industries have drawn attention to deployment of natural preservatives, as a coating, in food products with high quality, safety and environment sustainable development . Natural edible coating has been considered as a preservative for delaying senescence of fruit by preventing transpiration and respiration of fruit surface. This type of treatment not only maintains fruit quality as efficiently as modified atmosphere packing method, but also is simple and inexpensive .Aloe vera gel has been employed as a typical example of postharvest edible coating with high maintenance of postharvest qualities in several fruits such as kiwifruit slice , tomato , blueberry , strawberry, pomegranate arils , and orange . Aloe vera gel is mainly composed of polysaccharides combined with soluble sugars, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, but with very low lipid content. Lipid content plays a key role in hydrophobic barrier properties of the edible coating. A promising way to overcome the lipid deficiency in Aloe vera gel is to add essential oil to it which is rich in fatty acid. Essential oil showed a significant effect in controlling decay and extending shelf life of fresh commodities. Essential oil of basil plant with 0.64 g/100 g fatty acid seems to be a good candidate, which is being used in food industry as antimicrobial and antioxidant additive agents to the food products. Since the combination of polysaccharide and lipid enhances the efficacy of coating in hydrophobic properties, in this study we presented the effect of incorporating of basil oil to Aloe vera gel as a novel coating on postharvest quality parameters of ripening in peach, Aloe Vera
