Chitosan coating enriched with silibinin ameliorates postharvest browning and maintains nutritional quality of...

As a perishable commodity, fresh pomegranate arils exhibit short postharvest life with high susceptibility to browning. In this experiment, chitosan coating (0 and 1%) enriched with silibinin (0, 1, 10, 100, and 1000 µM) was used to ameliorate browning and maintain nutritional quality of pomegranate arils during storage at 4 °C for 12 days. The results showed that pomegranate arils coated with chitosan 1% enriched with 1 µM silibinin exhibited lower browning index (36.02%) and higher membrane integrity, represented by lower electrolyte leakage (EL; 28.92%) and malondialdehyde (MDA; 35.31%) aggregation. Furthermore, they exhibited higher phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and lower polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, contributing to higher accumulation of phenolics and anthocyanins. Moreover, higher DPPH scavenging capacity in these arils could be due to higher accumulation of phenolics, anthocyanins, and ascorbic acid. They also exhibited lower H₂O₂ accumulation due to higher activity of catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Thus, chitosan 1% coating enriched with 1 µM silibinin not only ameliorates the browning of pomegranate arils but also maintains their nutritional quality.