Effect of microencapsulated essential oils on the storage life of peach fruit (Prunus persica, cv Elberta)

Peach is climacteric fruit but relatively ripe is picked up and because of this, it suffers from post-harvest physiological losses. Over the years, the use of fungicides has been used to control the loss of fruits and vegetables and the rest of these fungicides in food has caused consumer pressure and health centers to reduce or not use these chemical compounds. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of essential oils has been proven and can be used as a natural ingredient to replace chemical compounds such as fungicides but there are problems with the volatility and change in the natural taste of the fruit due to the direct use. In this study, effects of Rosmarinus officinalis and Thymus vulgaris microencapsulated essential oils on storage life of peach fruits was investigated. Microencapsulated essential oils were prepared using β-cyclodextrin and chitosan as a protective shell for controlling microcapsules release and method of coacervation simple. The treatments were: control (no microencapsulation), two g R. officinalis oil microencapsulated, two g T.vulgaris oil microencapsulated, one g R.officinalis oil microencapsul pluse one g T.vulgaris oil microencapsul. The effect of treatments after an interval of 9 days for 36 days of storage period on physico-chemical properties of friuts were assayed. The results showed a significant delay in the changes of weight loss, titritable acidity, total soluble solids, decaying percentage and firmness in treated peach fruits than the control. The lowest decay incidences also were found in treated fruits. Hence, it could be concluded that postharvest treatment with microencapsulated essential oils has the potential to control decaying incidence, prolong storage life and maintained internal quality of peach fruits. The best treatment in this experiment was the microencapsules of both rosemary and thyme oils. However, the industrial application of this study requires further experiments on the type of essential oil used, the concentration of microcapsules applied, as well as the change in the composition of the microcapsule shell in order to control the longer the release of essential oils and can respond to consumer needs for reducing or eliminating the chemical additive to fruits and vegetables.