The impact of chitosan and guava leaf extract as preservative to extend the shelf-life of fruits

This research evaluates the effectiveness of chitosan and guava leaf extract (GLE) as preservativesto increase the storage life of fruits. Chitosan was prepared from chitin extracted from shrimp shells. GLE was extracted from mature gun leaves by the hot water (80 degrees C) extraction method. Chitosan with the solid concentrations of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0%, and GLE with 0.5% were sprayed on banana, carambola and tomatoto create a surface coating and were stored at 25 +/- 2 degrees C temperature and 85 +/- 5% relative humidity for 12 days. To evaluate the effectiveness of chitosan and GLE, moisture content, weight loss percentage (WLP), pH value of juice from fruits, carbohydrate content, protein contents and percentage disease index (PDI) were measured after 12 days storage. People's perceptions were also assessed for identifying the effectiveness of the preservatives. From the results, it was found that the application of 2% chitosan showed the lowest weight loss 6.58% for banana compared to the control samples. Protein and carbohydrate content were the highest 1.96 and 14.97% respectively when there was 2% chitosan application whereas GLE also showed similar results. The PDT was also lower 87.23 and 86.52% for banana coated with 2% chitosan and 0.5% GLE, respectively. Therefore, it is concluded that the chitosan and GLE can be applied as bio-preservative to extend the shelf life of the fruits without compromising their quality. (C) All Rights Reserved