LAUSR

Abstract This experiment was conducted to investigate a novel moringa leaf extract, together with commercially available edible coatings, namely, chitosan and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), as postharvest treatments to enhance shelf-life and improve the quality of ‘Fuerte’ and ‘Hass’ avocado fruit. Postharvest treatment included a 2% moringa extract with an emulsifier, two levels of chitosan (0.5, 1%), and CMC (0.5, 1%). Moringa extract with emulsifier and moringa containing chitosan and CMC significantly improved fruit quality of both cultivars. ‘Fuerte’ fruit treated with the combination of CMC (1%) and 2% moringa had significantly lower mass loss (1.78 ± 0.08%), electrical conductivity (192.0 ± 3.0 μЅ/m) and respiration rate (167.4 ± 40.8 mg/kg/h) compared to the untreated control with respective values of 4.7 ± 0.7%, 290.0 ± 5.0 μЅ/m and 290.0 ± 62.0 mg/kg/h. The same treatment had higher values for firmness (50.0 ± 4.25 N) and phytochemical characteristics, mainly mannoheptulose (5.7 ± 0.6 g/kg), and lower polyphenol oxidase (0.6 ± 0.06 *1000 U/kg) and lipid peroxidation (0.89 ± 0.06 nmol/g) in ‘Fuerte’ fruit. For ‘Hass’, similar results were also observed, where a combination of 2% moringa leaf extract with 1% of CMC reduced mass loss almost by 50%, while mannoheptulose was maintained by 8-folds. The results observed in this study showed that investigated edible coatings containing moringa leaf extract improve fruit quality and shelf-life. It could therefore potentially be commercialized as a new edible coating for future industry application.