Effect of Moisture Loss and Modified Atmosphere Packaging on Decay Control and Quality Maintenance of Green Walnut during Storage
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Abstract:
In order to investigate the synergistic effect of a combination of appropriate moisture loss and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) on the preservation of green walnut fruit. Cultivar Xifu 2 fresh walnut fruits were sampled, and treated with three moisture loss rate (0, 5%, and 10%) and two MAP (PE30 and PE50) combinations. The treatment with 0% moisture loss coupled with food-wrapping film packaging served as a control, and all samples were stored at 0 ± 0.5 ℃. The results demonstrated improved preservative effect on fresh fruits and the quality maintenance of walnut kernels compared with the control; the best results were obtained using the combination of 10% moisture loss and PE50 packaging (10% + PE50), followed by 5% + PE30. After 80-day storage, the green walnut fruits treated with 10% + PE50 showed the lowest fruit cracking rate (2.1%), decay incidence (2.0%) and browning index (10%), but those indexes of of the control were 81.6%, 42.4%, and 80.0%, respectively. The walnut kernels treated with 10% + PE50 had the highest total phenolic and flavonoid content and total antioxidant activity. The walnut kernels treated with 10% + PE50 showed the smallest decline in the sensory quality, and the lowest acid value, peroxide value, and malondialdehyde (MDA) and H2O2 contents. After 110-day storage, the decay rate of the fruits treated with 10% + PE50 was 11%, and the experiment was stopped because the browning index was more than 20%. In conclusion, 10% moisture loss coupled with PE50 packaging was determined to be the optimal combination of moisture loss and MAP, which can extend the shelf life of green walnut up to 110 days.
