Effect Of Laurus Nobilis Essential Oil And Its Composite Preservation Method On The Postharvest Disease Of Cherry Tomato

Fresh fruit decay is a difficult problem in all over the world. A lot of fruit decays every year, which bring a huge financial losses and resource wastes. Essential oil is a kind of environmental, nontoxic, continuable plant extraction, which shows great antimicrobials activity. However, the unstability and high cost limited the application of essential oils. The main aim of this project is to select an essential oil which showed the most excellent antimicrobials activity, and combine it with green chemical fungicide, modified atmosphere technology and nano emulsion technology to enhance the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil and decrease the limitation of the essential oil during application. And also discuss the interaction mechanism between essential oil and fungi, essential oil and fruit, which builds the foundation for further research to enhance the antifungal activity of essential oil.The major results are listed as following:1. The antifungal activities of bay (Laurus nibilis), tea tree, thyme, patchouli, fennel, lemon, clove, and citronella essential oil were tested and Laurus nibilis essential oil show the best antifungal activity. Moreover, this bay oil has different composition compared with other reported bay oil and the MIC is lower than other reported one.2. Laurus nibilis essential oil inhibited growth of Alternaria alternate, Botrytis cinerea, and Penicillium expansum both in solid and liquid medium. And it also controlled the grey mould and Alternaria rot of cherry tomato, the green mold of pear and citrus.3. Laurus nibilis essential oil combined with sodium bicarbonate and rhamnolipid showed great antifungal activity. And the present of sodium bicarbonate decreased the usage amount of Laurus nibilis essential oil4. Laurus nibilis essential oil combined with MAP inhibited Alternaria rot of cherry tomato. The composite package was the best one in all the tested packages. In addition, Laurus nibilis essential oil combined with composite package maintained the texture, total soluble solid and titratable acid of cherry tomato.5. A food-grade microemulsion was developed with Laurus nibilis essential oil, ethanol, and Tween 20, which belong to nano emulsion. The microemulsion improved the solubility, stability and antifungal activity of Laurus nibilis essential oil.6. Laurus nibilis essential oil inhibited pathogen through inhibiting the cell wall degradation enzymes of pathogens, destroying cell membrane of pathogen, enhancing resistance related enzymes of cherry tomato. Microemusion showed better antifungal activity because of its smaller paricle size.In conclusion, Laurus nibilis essential oil is a promising green fungicide. Microemulsion loaded with essential oil significantly enhances the antifungal activity of essential oil. The results of this project promote the commercial application of Laurus nibilis essential oil and its microemulsion...