Studies On The Effects Of Postharvest Treatment With Two Kinds Of Essential Oils On Fruit Storage

Postharvest looses of fruits and vegetables caused by plant fungal pathogens or physiological senescence are considerable. Chemical coating reagents provide a primary means for controlling postharvest fungal decay and physiological senescence of fruits and vegetables. Continuous usage of chemical coating reagents is facing two major problems: The increasing public concern about contamination of fungicidal residues in perishable products, and the proliferation of resistance to fungicides of pathogen population. Recently, the exploitation of natural products showed a potential and expectative way to replace chemical coating reagents. The aims of this disquisition were to research and develop effective coating reagents made from essential oil of plant resources. In this paper, the effectiveness of antifungal and fresh-keeping of essential oils on postharvest fruits were conducted at room temperature, and the relative humidity was more than 85%. The primary conclusions were as follows:1. The 36 kinds of tested essential oils had the effects of inhibiting fungal decay and prolong the postharvest storage life of tomato, apricot, nectarine and loquat fruits . The concentrations of essential oils were higher, the effects were better. The effects of essential oils from different plant resources were significant difference. According to the index of decay fruits and the rate of sound fruits, 9 kinds of these essential oils had higher antifungal and fresh-keeping activity than others. They were garlic essential oil, clove leaves essential oil, clove buds essential oil,cinnamon leaves essential oil , cinnamon park essential oil, ocimi gratimissimi essential oil, orange essential oil ,ginger essential oils and vetiver essential oil .2. The different fruits had different susceptibility to the essential oils. The susceptibility of apricot and loquat to the essential oils was more sensitive than that of tomato and nectarine. The concentration of essential oils injured the apricot and loquat fruits was 20μL/L, the same phenomena occurred on tomato and nectarine was 25μL/L.3. The antioxidant effects of 9 kinds of selected essential oils were investigated by the method of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl free radical (DPPH?). The results showed that the...