Friday, 26 September 2025

Effects of Acacia Gums Enriched with Gallic Acid and Clove Oil on Physicochemical and Physiological Changes of Solanum lycopersicum during Storage | Chapter 5 | Food Science and Agriculture: Research Highlights Vol. 4

 

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an annual herbaceous crop with berries that belongs to the Solanaceae family. It produces fruits of various sizes and shapes with a smooth epicarp. It originated as wild forms in the Peru-Ecuador-Bolivia area of South America. It is among the perishable horticultural products affected by the postharvest practices during the production chain. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of acacia gums incorporated with gallic acid and clove oil on physiological and physicochemical changes in tomatoes during storage at different treatment ratios and storage conditions. Fresh tomato fruits, harvested at the ripening stage, were collected from the Iringa municipal market. Gum Arabic particles were collected from Acacia trees in the Iringa region. Whereby treatment solutions made of acacia gum incorporated with gallic Acid and clove oil in combination ratios of T1 (0:0:100), T2 (0.5:0.5:100), T3 (1.0:1.0:98), and T4 (1.5:1.5:97) as gallic acid, clove oil, and acacia gum solution, respectively, were used as organic coatings to preserve tomatoes. Samples of 120 coated tomatoes per treatment were then left to dry at ambient temperature, followed by storage at ambient, in the cold room (16°C), and in a refrigerator (8°C) for observation for 35 days of the experiment. The Diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical degradation method was used to estimate the antioxidant activity. The firmness of all fruit samples was measured with a fruit Texture analyser Brookfield model CT3 10K (0-50 Kgf). All the data were interpreted by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with Duncan’s multiple-range test using the SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics version 26) software package for expressing the statistical significance. From the results, it was observed that the antioxidant activity percentage was increased from a value of 19.66±0.000 % to 42.77±5.436 % on average within the initial 14 days of storage; thereafter, it started decreasing. Meanwhile, the firmness of the tomatoes was maintained until 28 days of storage, after which it started changing due to respiration. Treatment T3 (1.0:1.0:98) performed well in maintaining the firmness of tomato fruits in all storage conditions compared to treatments T1 (0:0:100), T2 (0.5:0.5:98), and T4 (1.5:1.5:97), with an average maximum firmness of T3 (0.24±0.00 N/mm), T1 (0.17±0.00 N/mm), T2 (0.20 ±0.00N/mm), and T4 (0.21±0.00 N/mm), respectively. This indicates the best quality attribute towards the marketability for preserving the shape and size of the tomato fruits when it comes to shelf life and customer perception. The study concluded that post-harvest treatments containing a mixture of Acacia gum, gallic acid, and clove oil indicated significant effectiveness in preserving the quality of tomato fruits compared to a solution of only acacia gum in all storage conditions.

 

 

Author(s) Details

Isaka Gerald Barongereje
Department of Food Science and Agro-Processing, School of Engineering and Technology, The Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3000, Chuo Kikuu Morogoro, Tanzania.

 

V.C.K Silayo
Department of Food Science and Agro-Processing, School of Engineering and Technology, The Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3000, Chuo Kikuu Morogoro, Tanzania.

 

Rashid A. Suleiman
Department of Food Science and Agro-Processing, School of Engineering and Technology, The Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3000, Chuo Kikuu Morogoro, Tanzania.

 

Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/fsarh/v4/6260

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