FOOD SCIENCE ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (23): 254-260.doi: 10.7506/spkx1002-6630-20211227-311

• Packaging & Storage • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Use of Principal Component Analysis for the Evaluation of the Effect of Composite Coatings in Preserving the Quality of Wax Apples (Syzygium samarangenese)

YIN Qingchun, YANG Suishan, PAN Yongbo, XIAO Xuan, WANG Chengye, CHEN Chunquan, DENG Hao   

  1. (1. Key Laboratory of Tropical Fruit and Vegetable Cold-Chain of Hainan Province, Institute of Agro-products of Processing and Design, Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 570100, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Tropical Fruits and Vegetables Quality and Safety for State Market Regulation, Hainan Institute for Food Control, Haikou 570311, China)
  • Online:2022-12-15 Published:2022-12-28

Abstract: Wax apples are susceptible to water loss during postharvest storage, which in turn causes quality deterioration. In this study, three composite coatings (C1–C3) were prepared with multi-strain cultures and chitosan, and their efficacy in preserving the quality of wax apples was evaluated by measuring eight quality indexes as well as using principal components analysis (PCA) and mathematical models. The results showed that the preservative effect of the coating (C3) consisting of a three-strain cocktail (V(Streptococcus lactis):V(Bifidobacterium infantis):V(Bifidobacterium animalis) = 1:2:2) and chitosan at a volume ratio of 3:7 was the best. The percentage of marketable fruit in this coating treatment group was 95% on the 10th day of storage and 45% higher than that of the control group. The coating treatments could obviously reduce water loss, and the water loss rates of the three coating treatment groups were 14.87%, 13.81% and 15.64%, respectively and significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05) on the 10th day of storage. After 10 days of storage, the increase in the contents of soluble solids and titratable acid (0.08% and 12.28%, respectively) and the decrease in the contents of vitamin C, glucose and fructose (18.87%, 10.91% and 5.84%, respectively) in the C3 treatment group were the lowest among the three treatment groups. PCA showed that the first two principal components (PC1 and PC2) could represent 69.814% of the information on all quality indexes and comprehensively reflect the effect of coatings on these indexes. The mathematical model analysis showed that the comprehensive score of the control group was ?0.53 on day 0, and became positive on the 4th day, indicating that the quality obviously deteriorated. The score of the C3 group was always near the critical value (zero) during storage, further verifying that C3 is the most effective in preserving wax apple quality, followed in order by C1, C2 and the control. This study provides a reference for research on postharvest preservation and comprehensive quality evaluation of wax apples.

Key words: lactobacillus; coating; wax apple; preservation; principal component analysis

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