Effect of gelatin-alginate coating containing anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) essential oil on physicochemical and visual properties of zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.) fruit during storage

The present study investigates the possibility of extending the shelf life of zucchini fruit treated with gelatin-alginate (G-AL) coating containing different concentrations (0.85%, 1.7%, and 2.55% w/v) of anise essential oil (AEO) during room storage (RS) and cold storage (CS). Physical properties including weight loss (WL), tissue firmness, and volume changes (VC); chemical properties including pH, titratable acidity (TA), and total soluble solids (TSS), and ripeness index (RPI); and visual properties, such as color index, percentage of surface defects, and zucchini chilling injury index (CI) were measured on 0, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 14 days of storage. Finally, the parameters were modeled using the zero-order, first-order, and Weibull function kinetic models. The results showed that in all treatments, quality changes during RS was significantly (p < 0.05) faster than CS. G-AL coating without AEO (C-1) was able to change WL, texture firmness, volume changes, TA, TSS, and percentage of surface defects, color changes and reduce CI by 14%, 18%, 19%, 55%, 7%, 43%, 37%, and 34% respectively. The addition of AEO to the coating at different concentrations increased its efficiency and significantly reduced the trend of quality changes compared with C-1 in both RS and CS (p < 0.05). The zero-order, first-order, and Weibull kinetic models were able to predict quality parameters with R-2 higher than 0.90. However, the first-order model with R-2 higher than 0.98 showed the best performance. It can be concluded that G-AL coating containing AEO could be used as an active edible coating in the storage of zucchini fruit. Novelty Impact Statement Addition of AEO to the G-AL coating at different concentrations increased its efficiency and significantly reduced the trend of quality changes G-AL coating containing AEO could be used as an active edible coating in the storage of zucchini fruit The results showed that the coating treatment, especially with high concentrations of AEO, could significantly reduce the CI rate.