Abstract:
Research on the usage of biodegradable packaging materials extracted from natural sources in the
packing of food products increased recently in order to overcome the problems associated with
synthetic petroleum-based packaging materials. The present study revealed the potential of agar
bio-based films containing cellulose and microcrystalline cellulose extracted from peanut shells,
as well as their effect on storage quality and shelf life of guava (Psidium guajava) fruits. Cellulose
and microcrystalline cellulose films were made using the solution casting method by pouring the
solution into the petri-dishes. Seven different packaging materials were prepared using peanut
shell powder (1 and 2%), cellulose powder (1 and 2 %) and microcrystalline powder (1 and 2 %).
Packaging film prepared from agar and glycerine used as control. The potential application of
these packaging materials to fresh fruit preservation was tested. The guava fruits were covered
with 1% and 2% (w/w) concentrations of peanut shell powder, cellulose and microcrystalline
cellulose incorporated packaging materials and stored at 30˚C (room temperature) and 10˚C
(refrigeration temperature). Post-harvest storage conditions such as physiological weight loss,
ascorbic acid, pH, total soluble solids, reducing sugar, titratable acidity and ash content of fruits
were measured at three days intervals up to nine days. According to Tukey’s Studentized Range
Test changes in physiological weight loss (0.35 ± 0.07), titratable acidity (0.03 ± 0.03), pH (0.02 ±
0.01), total soluble solids (1.15 ± 0.21), reducing sugar (0.78 ± 0.03) and ascorbic acid content
(0.2±0.12) were significantly (p<0.05) lower in guava fruits stored in 2% microcrystalline
cellulose packaging material at 10˚C (between 6ͭʰ day to 9ͭʰ day of storage) compared to other
packaging materials. The findings of this study indicate that the development of biodegradable
packaging material for the preservation of guava fruits with minimal changes in the postharvest
storage properties is a possible task.
