Authors Ergun, M., & Satici, F.
Effects of Aloe vera gel (0, 1, 5 and 10% w/v) coating on green-colored Granny Smith and red-colored Red Chief apples those were stored at 2 “C for 6 months. Aloe vera gel treatments substantially suppressed the increase in weight loss for Granny Smith apples but did not affect weight loss for Red Chief apples. Apples from both cultivars softened at definite rates over time, and these rates were not affected from any of the gel treatments. Aloe vera gel treatment suppressed the green colour loss for Granny Smith but remained unaffected for Red Chief apples. Soluble solids content and percentage titratable acidity was recorded higher for Granny Smith apple fruit treated with Aloe vera gel (5 and 10%) during most of the storage period while no Aloe vera gel effects on colour for Red Chief apples was recorded. The pH values for Granny Smith fruit slightly decreased while slightly increased for Red Chief fruit over time, yet values for both cultivars remained unaffected by Aloe vera gel treatments. The results indicated that Aloe vera gel treatment may be used as biopreservative on Granny Smith apples for retarding quality losses. Biopreservation is a novel food preservation method defined for extension of shelf life and enhanced safety of foods by the use of natural or controlled microbiota and/or antimicrobial compounds . In postharvest technology, biopreservation takes aim at extending storage/shelf life of fruits and vegetables by utilizing plant-based products those have been used in food engineering for a long time. Recently, these plant-based products have been started to use in fresh fruits and vegetables as biopreservatives. Aloe vera gel is one of the promising biopreservative which has a great potential to become a common use for most fresh fruits and vegetables. Aloe vera gel has been tested for few fresh fruits by a postharvest. Aloe vera extracts suppressed/retarded postharvest quality losses in Crimson Seedless grapes and StarKing cherries, Furthermore, Aloe vera extracts were reported to be useful for Kensington Pride mangoes and Artic Snow nectarines for retaining quality losses after harvest. Aloe vera gel is applied to fruits as an edible coating which has been widely used for most fruits and vegetables. Edible coatings have a various favorable effect on fruits such as imparting a glossy appearance and better colour, retarding weight loss, or prolonging storage/shelf life by preventing microbial spoilage. The performance of Aloe vera gel as edible coating is dependent on its composition, its use offers an option to film packaging owing to their environmentally friendly characteristic. Aloe vera leaves are rich in bioactive compounds some of which are antioxidants those are broadly used in food engineering as preservative such as mannans, antrachinon, c-glycoside, Antron, antrakuinon and lectine. Considering Aloe veras success on biopreservation of table grapes, cherries, mangos and nectarines, and increasing demands for environmentally friendly postharvest handling procedures, we investigated the use of Aloe vera gel as biopreservative for Granny Smith and Red Chief apples. The main reason choosing these apple cultivars in our study is their distinctive fruit colorations which is frequently used as a quality index.
