Citral is an aliphatic aldehyde extracted from citrus essential oil. Scientists at Jiangxi Agricultural University (China) have examined how citral treatment affects the weight loss, firmness, respiration, and ripening index, as well as the antioxidant capacity of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis cv. Jinkui) under cold storage.
For the study, kiwifruit were dipped in 0.6 µLm/L citral (prepared in 0.1% Tween 80 solution) for 15 min, then both citral-treated and control kiwifruits were air-dried (at 20 ± 1°C and 90 ± 5% relative humidity), packed in low-density polyethylene bags (39 × 30 cm, 0.03 mm thickness), and then stored at 0-1°C and 90 ± 5% RH for 90 days, during which flesh firmness, quality parameters, membrane permeability, and antioxidant enzyme activities were determined.
"The beneficial effects of citral treatment on postharvest quality and antioxidant capacity of Jinkui kiwifruit were showed by decreased fruit weight loss, delayed softening, alleviated senescence progress, and maintained higher levels of antioxidant contents that help boost antioxidant enzyme activities in comparison with the respective control fruits during storage. Furthermore, weight loss, respiration rate, and ripening index were lower in the citral-treated kiwifruits than those in the control fruits," the scientists explained. "We concluded that citral treatment could serve as a potential and feasible preservation method for delaying postharvest senescence decay and maintaining antioxidant capacity in Jinkui kiwifruit. Citral can be used as a promising natural preservative for the extension of postharvest quality in kiwifruit".
Source: Ling Wei, Chuying Chen, Chunpeng Wan, Ming Chen, Jinyin Chen, 'Citral Delays Postharvest Senescence of Kiwifruit by Enhancing Antioxidant Capacity under Cold Storage', 2021, Journal of Food Quality, Vol. 2021, Article ID 6684172, 9 pages.