THE EFFECT OF Aloe vera Mill. GEL COATING ON POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF AVOCADO (Persea americana MILL.) FRUITS

Aloe vera gel has been proven to be one of the best edible and biologically safe preservative coatings for different types of foods because of its film-forming properties, antimicrobial actions, biodegradability and biochemical properties. This study was planned to investigate the role of aloe gel coating in improving post harvest quality, shelf life, sugar and antioxidant (carotenoid) content of avocado fruit. The experiment was laid in completely randomized design (CRD) in two replications. Twenty fruits of Avocado with uniform size & no physical damage was selected. Quantitative data were collected for weight loss, vitamine c content, total chlorophyll & carotenoid content, total titritable acidity and reducing sugers. The results indicated significant difference between control and aloe gel treated groups for all physicochemical fruit quality parameters. The weight loss of uncoated avocado was measured(13.5%),while the Aloe gel treated was( 4.56%) . It was demonstrated that the ascorbic acid content was increasing in control group during postharvest avocado fruit ripening(4.46%) than the Aloe gel treated group(2.17%), but no significant difference was observed in ascorbic acid content among levels of treatments. Carotenoid and reducing sugar contents were increasing (2.05mg/g, 11.14%) respectively while weight loss (13.5%, chlorophyll(0.06µg/g) and vitamin C(0.76%) contents were decreasing during postharvest ripening of uncoated avocado fruits. The highest mean vitamin C, carotenoid and sugar contents were observed for the control group showing that treatment with aloe gel solution can delay ripening of avocado fruit. The result of this paper showed that A.vera gel could be applied as a postharvest treatment to enhance quality & shelf life during postharvest storage of Avocado fruits. Further studies are required on the effect of storage conditions, cultivar differences and environments on fruit quality parameters.