Efficacy of Selected Indigenous Plant Extracts in Mitigating Post-Harvest Loss of Tomatoes (Published)
The effects of guava leaves and avocado seed extracts on the postharvest shelf life, fruit quality parameters and degradation pattern of fresh tomato fruits as well as the relative preservation efficiencies of the extracts were investigated to ascertain their efficacy in reducing postharvest loss of tomato. Fresh tomato fruits were separately treated with the unenhanced extracts, L-ascorbic acid enhanced extracts, and the synergistic blends of the plant extracts following initial preparation by acidified-ethanolic extraction. The tomato shelf life conferred by each extract was then determined by monitoring the tomato fruits for degradation by soft rot, fungal rot and shrivelling. The study showed that L-Ascorbic acid-enhanced Guava leave extract (LAA-G) conferred both the highest mean shelf life of 63-days with a preservation efficiency of 83% while preserving tomato fruits treated with up to a maximum of 86-days, thus making it the most potent among the extracts in tomato shelf-life elongation. The potency of the extracts is in the order; LAA-G >A > LAA-AG > G > LAA-A > AG. Also, all the extracts possessed some degree of antimicrobial inhibition against Aspergillus, Rhizopus, E. coli and S. aureus but this was dependent on concentration and enhanced by treatment with L-ascorbic acid. The study found that, all extracts of P. guajava leaves and P. americana seeds possess remarkable shelf-life elongation activity, and hence, could mitigate postharvest loss of tomatoes except the heat-treated variant, which showed no shelf-life elongation activity. The marginal differences in the bioactive phytochemical compositions of the extracts suggest that the extracts may be achieving their preservative effect via a heat-labile bioactive compound that is present in all the extracts and further studies are needed to unravel this.
Keywords: Avocado seed, Guava leaves, L-Ascorbic acid, Tomato, postharvest loss, postharvest shelf life
The Effect of Moringa Seeds Oil and Shea Butter Oil Waxing On the Post-Harvest Life of Tomato Fruit (Solanum lycopersicum) (Published)
Tomato belongs to the family, Solanaceae and the genus Lycopersicon, is considered as one of the best healthy foods in the world due to its rich source of vitamin B and phyto-nutrients and abundant in carotenoids and lycopene. There has not been alternative means of preservation asides refrigeration as fast ripening disorder sets in and reduce its shelf life as the level of its calcium and potassium reduces during these processes. Post-harvest waxing has proved to be the alternative means of extending its shelf life. Standard analytical methods were used to test for colour, hardness, ash content, moisture content, total solid, brix, pH and total titrable acidity for two single and eight composite waxing (shea butter and moringa) of tomato fruits from day one to seven respectively. Waxing helps to delay the effect of divalent cations, which played an essential role in pectin metabolism and result to tissue softening in the pericarp of tomato fruit during ripening. The result obtained indicated that single oil waxing at 100%MOT (100% moringa oil) yielded good result up to five days while composite oil waxing at 10:90MST (10%moringa and 90%shea butter) could retard the effect of divalent cations for ripening for four days than the rest of waxing in single and composite oil waxing respectively.
Keywords: Moringa oil, Shea butter oil, Shelf-Life, Tomato, waxing
Assessment of Locally Produced Waxing Materials on the Shelf Life and Quality of Tomato Fruits (Solanum lycopersicum) (Published)
The work was done to assess the effectiveness of locally produced waxing materials on the quality of tomato fruits. The experiment was performed in the Chemistry Laboratory of the Department of Food and Postharvest Technology, in the Koforidua Technical University. Materials that were used for the experiment is the Power Rano variety of tomato and four (4) waxing materials (shea butter, cassava starch, beeswax, and a combination of the three (shea butter + cassava starch + beeswax) and a control. Data on randomly selected fruits in each treatment per replication was recorded at four different days: 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of storage during the experiment. The following quality indices were measured: Weight loss (%), Total soluble solids (TSS), Total titrable acidity (TTA), and Shelf life of fruit. The data collected on the laboratory experiments and sensory evaluation were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and the means were separated using Duncan multiple range of test at 5%. Results from the work indicated that, treating tomato fruit with wax was effective in preserving the fruit. All waxing treatments delayed the development of weight loss, firmness, pH, total soluble solids, and total titrable acidity of fruits. It was concluded that edible wax coatings delayed the ripening process and colour development of tomato fruits during the storage period and extended the shelf life. However, it is recommended that there should be sensitization on the use of locally produced wax to extend the shelf life of tomato for consumers and further work should be done on the economics analysis of waxing tomatoes.
Keywords: Shelf-Life, Tomato, Weight Loss, total soluble solids, total titrable acidity, waxing