Sabreena Yousuf * a and Shrikant S. Maktedar * a
a Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, J & K 190006, India
E-mail: yousufsabreena59@gmail.com, shrikant@nitsri.ac.in
Valorisation of quince seeds was performed for the extraction of mucilage. Five composite coatings of quince seed mucilage (QSM) and sodium alginate viz. 100 : 0 (QAH1), 80 : 20 (QAH2), 60 : 40 (QAH3), 40 : 60 (QAH4), and 20 : 80 (QAH5) were developed and incorporated with vanillin (1%). The effect of quince seed mucilage-sodium alginate composite hydrogel coatings incorporated with vanillin on the postharvest quality of apples stored under refrigerated conditions for a period of 180 days was studied. Coatings helped to reduce weight loss, and weight loss of 5.98% and 3.48% was reported in control and QAH1 coated samples, respectively, after 180 days of storage. Better firmness, color, anthocyanin content, vitamin C and antioxidant activity were retained in coated samples than in control samples. Significantly (P ≤ 0.05) higher microbial counts (6.04 log10 cfu g −1 ) were reported in control samples as compared to samples coated with QAH1 (4.72 log10 cfu g −1 ) due to the antimicrobial properties of vanillin and QSM. These findings confirm potential benefits of QSM-based edible coatings for shelf-life extension and quality maintenance of this commercially important fruit crop.