Introduction:

Melon is a fruit with a short storage period. An alternative to extend the shelf-life of this fruit is the application of an edible film. In present study was evaluated the effect of the application of an edible coating based on alginate-hydroxypropilmethyl-cellulose-parafine over the quality of Cantaloupe melon under two storage types.

Method:

Cantaloupe melon fruits were covered by an alginate-hydroxypropilmethyl-cellulose-parafine edible coating (ALG-HPMC-PAR), and uncovered (CONTROL). Experimental melons were stored for 21 days at 5 ºC and 95 % relative humidity. Every seven days, the fruits were subjected to analysis of chilling injury index, loss of weight, texture, and CO2 and ethylene concentration of internal atmosphere of the fruit. In addition, to simulate commercial management, at the end of each period of seven days in refrigeration, a sample of melons was extracted from the refrigerator and exposed to environmental conditions of temperature and relative humidity (25ºC and 21-25% respectively) during three days (combined storage), and measured the parameters mentioned above.

Results:

The application of the edible coating induced that melons had a higher CO2 and lower ethylene concentration in the fruit inner atmosphere, contributing to maintain their quality for a longer storage time than the control fruits, since the covered melons were firmer, had a lower weight loss, and suffered a lower chilling injury index.

Discussion or Conclusion:

The obtained results prove the feasibility of the application of edible coatings to maintain the Cantaloupe melon quality in cooling and combined storage.

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