EDIBLE COATING FROM ENSET STARCH AND MORINGA LEAF EXRACT TO MAINTAIN QUALITY OF TOMATO (Lycopersicon Esculentum Mill.) FRUIT STORED AT AMBIENT CONDITION

Abstract

Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one of the world's most widely produced and consumed fresh vegetables. The postharvest losses in tomatoes are a serious problem, because of rapid deterioration during handling, transport and storage. These losses of tomato fruits require unique and easy techniques to prevent. The use of enset starch (ES) and moringa leaf extract (MLE) is considered a good choice for preservation technique to extend the shelf life of tomato fruit. Therefore, this study was initiated to investigate the effect of coating by enset starch and moringa leaf extract on the physical, chemical and microbial quality of tomato fruit stored at ambient conditions. The treatments were carried out using factorial design. Coating of tomato fruits were done by dipping into solution for 3 minutes. The difference between treatments means were tested at significance level of P<0.05 using the SAS 9.1 software. The effectiveness of edible coating in maintaining quality attributes of tomato fruits was determined at four days’interval for 28 days. The tomato quality parameters such as physiological weight loss (PWL), decay loss, marketability, firmness, colour, storage life, otal soluble solid (TSS), pH, ascorbic acid (AA), titratable acidity (TA), yeast and mold and total bacteria count were evaluated. As the storage period increased the PWL, decay loss, change in color, TSS, total bacteria and yeast and mold count increased. However, the main effects of enset starch and interaction of coatings lower PWL to (7.35%) and (7%) respectively. The treatment combinations maintain firmness (3.58kg/cm2 ) of tomato fruits. whereas, marketability, ascorbic acid, acidity and storage life decreased. There were significant differences P<0.05) among treated and control samples. All treatments delayed tomato ripening and preserved the quality attributes. In general, the finding of study revealed that, the main effects of 10% enset starch and the treatment combination of 10% ES and 25% MLE followed by 10% ES and 20% MLE maintained the tomato fruit qualities for 28 days. The findings of this study can be valuable information on reducing postharvest losses of the tomato produced for use by farmers, researchers and other stockholders in fresh tomatoes fruits value chain.