Elicitation of Fruit Defense Response by Active Edible Coatings

Jul 16, 2026

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Avocado postharvest losses arise from biotic pathogens and abiotic stresses, leading to decay and quality deterioration during storage. While fungicides can reduce decay, concerns about toxicity drive demand for environmentally friendly alternatives. Edible coatings provide protective and micro-modified atmosphere benefits, and active coatings can deliver compounds to enhance protection. Plant defense pathways involving phenylpropanoids and flavonoids correlate with reduced decay, and applying phenylalanine can stimulate flavonoid production and improve resistance, motivating active edible coating strategies to elicit fruit defense responses.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

Postharvest Biology and Technology 174 (2021) 111442 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Postharvest Biology and Technology journal [homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/postharvbio](homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/postharvbio) | Elicitation of fruit defense response by active edible coatings embedded with phenylalanine to improve quality and storability of avocado fruit | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Lilah Saidia, b, Danielle Duanis-Assafa, Ortal Galsarkera, Dalia Maurera, Noam Alkana, *, Elena Poverenova, * a Institute of Postharvest and Food Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion, 7528809, Israel b Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, 76100, Israel | | | | | A R T I C L E I N F O | | A B S T R A C T | | | Keywords: Chitosan coatings Phenylalanine Carboxymethyl cellulose coatings Persea americana Fruit | | Edible coatings attract high research attention as an effective natural approach for maintaining fresh agricultural produce quality and storability. In this study, a series of polysaccharide-based coatings that contain, for the first time, an elicitor of fruit defense response, phenylalanine, were developed and applied on avocado fruit. After an initial screening of a series of polysaccharides coatings, the chitosan and carboxymethyl cellulose with stearicacid (CMC + StA) were chosen, and phenylalanine elicitor was added then to the polysaccharide matrices. These active edible coatings of either chitosan or CMC + StA that contained phenylalanine significantly reduced the fruit’s natural decay caused by the fungal pathogens Colletotrichum and Alternaria. The coated avocado fruit has also demonstrated higher resistance to storage at sub-optimal temperature and showed less pitting, decay, and internal browning. The observed cold resistance correlated with a minor transcript upregulation of several genes as lipoxygenase, heat-shock protein, and several transcripts in the phenylpropanoid pathway. Interestingly, the coated fruit had a better flavor than the control fruit. Taken together, the reported results point to the ability of these new edible coatings to significantly increased fruit resistance to fungal pathogens and cold stress while maintaining the fruit quality and storability and improving their taste. | | 1. Introduction The global importance of avocado fruit increases from being an insignificance crop to becoming one of the most important tropical fruit (Davenport, 2011; Bergh, 1992). Avocado is commonly referred to as asuperfood due to its unique nutritional and phytochemical composition, including protein source, good fatty acids, fiber source, and high antioxidants that help prevent and treat oxidative stress or age-related degenerative diseases (Bhuyan et al., 2019). Nonetheless, avocado fruit carries some drawbacks as shor

Jul 16, 2026

315

Upload by Finn