EXTRACTION OF POLYSACCHARIDES FROM OPUNTIA CACTUS FOR ITS POTENTIAL APPLICATION IN EDIBLE COATING TO IMPROVE THE SHELF LIFE OF CITRUS (KINNOW MANDARIN) FRUIT

Abstract

Fruits and vegetables are subjected to post-harvest losses due to high moisture contents along with other physiological factors. Among various measure to control loses, development of edible coatings has been an imperative and innovative technique to achieve the desired goal. Opuntia cactus, a xerotrophyte, plant contains appreciable amount of polysaccharides thus can be utilized in edible coating formation. The mandate of present study was to extract polysaccharides from cactus for development of edible coatings for their potential applications on citrus fruits. For the purpose, various concentrations of extracted cactus polysaccharides were used to develop edible coatings. These coating were applied on citrus fruits (Kinnow mandarin) which were then stored for period of 35 days. The results indicated that the maximum moisture was observed in T3 (2% cactus polysaccharides) i.e. 86.94±2.10%. The maximum value for pH of coated citrus was found in T1 (3.19% cactus polysaccharides) as 3.19±0.02%. Conclusively, as the demand of fresh looking fruits and vegetables is increasing due to the awareness among the masses, edible coatings using cactus polysaccharides can play an imperative role in increasing the shelf life along with retaining the quality of various commodities.