Effect of Natural Waxes on Quality and Storability of Sweet Oranges (Citrus sinensis L.)

Abstract

Sweet orange fruits loss moisture and shrivel rapidly and lose consumer appeal during marketing and storage. Waxing was reported to reduce water loss, delay fruit ripening and senescence, maintain quality and extend shelf-life in orange. The effect of three natural waxes (bee, carnauba and jojoba) on quality and storability of ‘Sinnari’ and ‘Nori 16’ orange cultivars was evaluated. Parameters studied were determined using standard methods. Analysis of variance with a significance level of P≤0.05 were performed on the data using the Statistic Software Version 8.0. The three natural waxes significantly delayed senescence, reduced losses, maintained quality and extended shelf-life of orange fruits during storage for 18 weeks at 4±1 ˚C and 85- 90 % relative humidity. The results indicated that the wax treatments significantly decreased respiration rate (30.3, 21.3 and 12.3 %), reduced water loss (32.5, 12.7 and 7.8 %), decreased peel color development (31.7, 23.3 and 13.3 %), fruit softening (16.5, 12.4 and 6.8 %), and total soluble solids accumulation (10.4, 7.1 & 4.1 %), and increased the retained ascorbic acid content (45.4, 31.6 and 20.5 %) in fruits treated with bee wax, jojoba wax and carnauba wax, respectively, compared with the unwaxed (control) fruits. Bee wax was the most effective, followed by jojoba wax and least was the carnauba wax. It was recommended that natural waxes, especially bee and jojoba waxes can effectively be used to delay fruit senescence, reduce weight loss, maintain quality and extend shelf-life of orange fruits.