The efficacy of combined coatings of chitosan and cinnamic acid on tomatoes

Tomatoes require appropriate environment to stay sturdy due to earlier decay process. Deterioration causes short shelf life of tomatoes with unfavourable quality, resulting in potential rejection by customers. The objective of the study is to observe the effect of combined coatings of chitosan (Ch) and cinnamic acid (CA) in extending the tomato shelf life. Layer by layer coating of chitosan prior to the cinnamic acid (single coating for each) were applied on fresh graded tomato at two maturity stagesbreaker and turning. Twelve days observations at ambient temperature with three-day intervals were recorded. Combined coating of chitosan and cinnamic acid were expected to influence firmness, TSS value, hue angle and weight loss. Results showed that a combined coating of 1.0% Ch + 3 mM CA has significant increament at breaker stage to firmness (8.26 N), hue angle (60.42%) and weight loss value (6.51%) compared to untreated tomato whereas for turning stage, the results showed there were no significant different in all parameters observed except the changes of fruit sweetness (TSS). 1.0% Ch + 4 mM CA show highest TSS value, 3.48% indicating 21% difference than untreated tomato (3.27%). Cinnamic acid helped chitosan in improving coating ability by serving better barrier from pathogen and oxidative gas penetration to prevent earlier spoilage problem