The efficacy of gum arabic coating in postharvest preservation of grapes

The current study evaluated the efficacy of gum arabic (GA) safe edible coating on nutritional properties, phenolic compounds, and antioxidant capacity of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cv. ‘Flame Seedless’. The grapes were coated with 0, 1, 3, 5, 7% GA, and then stored at 4 ± 1°C with 90 ± 2% RH for 30 days. GA coating at 5% significantly reduced weight loss, repressed titratable acidity (TA) degradation, and postponed the rise of total soluble solid (TSS) content. Also, 5% GA treatment suppressed the loss of ascorbic acid (AA), total phenolic content (TPC), as well as individual phenolic compounds. Moreover, 5% GA-coated fruits exhibited substantially the highest antioxidant capacity (DPPH), antioxidant enzyme activities (POD and CAT), and anthocyanin content. Therefore, it is evident that GA at 5% is a potential postharvest coating to maintain overall quality of ‘Flame Seedless’ grapevine fruit during cold storage.