Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran.
2
Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran
3
1Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Arak University, Arak, Iran.
4
Department of Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of agriculture, Arak University, Arak 38156-8-8349, Iran
5
Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Cucumber is a highly perishable crop and it is very important to reduce the chemical and microbial changes that occur during storage. The use of new technologies such as edible coatings combined with metal nanoparticles, can improving cucumber storage and preserving their quality. In this study, the effects of nano coating materials such as Copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) and Zinc nanoparticles (Zn-NPs) with the addition of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as an edible coating to increase the quality of cucumber during storage were investigated. The extract of Rosmarinus officinalis was applied to green synthesis of Cu-NPs and Zn-NPs. Characterizations of these nanoparticles were tested by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The size of synthesized nanoparticles was at about 30-70 nm. Cucumber fruits were treated with different concentrations of Cu-NPs and Zn-NPs, ranging from 0% to 3% at 24 °C for 12 days. These treatments were conducted both with a coating of CMC (0.5 %) and without any coating. The results indicated that cucumbers coated with 3% Zn-NPs + CMC had a significant delay in weight loss, firmness, titratable acidity, total chlorophyll content, vitamin C and fungal growth counts compared to uncoated and control treatments. Also, higher concentrations of nanoparticles in coatings provide stronger antimicrobial and antioxidant effects, leading to better preservation of the cucumber's visual quality.
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