Scientia Horticulturae | 2019
Postharvest storage quality of citrus fruit treated with a liquid ferment of Chinese herbs and probiotics
Abstract
Abstract In this study, we produced a novel liquid fermentation compound (LFC) from the co-fermentation of probiotics and Chinese herbs and assessed its benefits on the postharvest storage quality of citrus fruit. Harvested fruit were treated with sterile water (Control), probiotic suspensions (PS), a combination of Chinese herbs (CHC) or LFC for 5\u2009min and then stored at 20\u2009°C and 85–90% RH for 42 d. The results of in vitro tests showed that LFC strongly inhibited the growth of P. digitatum. Storage trials showed that PS, CHC and LFC treated fruits had lower weight loss and higher vitamin C and total soluble solid contents at day 42 after treatment. However, there were no significant differences in firmness among all groups. Only LFC-treatment significantly delayed the loss of titratable acidity content at day 21 after treatment. Interestingly, decay incidence in LFC treated-fruit was also significantly lower than both CHC- and PS-treated fruit (P